


Two Halves of a Missing Whole

by lorraineblake



Series: Silver Linings [1]
Category: Sherlock (TV), Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Genre: Alpha Moriarty, Alpha Mycroft, Alpha Sebastian, Alpha Sherlock, Alpha Sherrinford, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe, Animalistic Behavior, BAMF John, Babies, Bondlock, Dirty Talk, Feral Behavior, Forced Bonding, Forced Marriage, Knotting, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Mpreg, Multi, Omega Anthea, Omega John, Omega Molly, Omega Q, Oral Sex, Possessive Behavior, Possessive Sherlock, Rough Sex, Threats of Rape/Non-Con
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-11-29
Updated: 2015-04-05
Packaged: 2018-01-02 22:34:41
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 6
Words: 54,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1062446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lorraineblake/pseuds/lorraineblake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"It is the noble intention of the old and respectable Holmes family to request the young Omega John Watson hand´s in marriage for the youngest heir, Alpha Sherlock Holmes."</p><p> John Watson closed his eyes as he read the old piece of paper that once his parents recived when he was a little child. His tense hand wrinkled the text and threw it aways on the bin before he grabbed his pack and walk through the door. He was sure of one thing... they would come after him, and he would run.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Far from so Close

**Author's Note:**

> Before reading this, I wanted to say that english is not my first language and I dont have any beta or brit-pick so please excuse the grammar mistakes or the idioms.
> 
> The Title of this Chapter is based in the lyrics of the Mat Kearney song "Ships in the Night"

Most of the people in the world could settle with what they were given and only just a counted few would go further to defy the rules and limits that their lives had, for something more.

_Something they had always truly wanted._

So, when small 7-year-old John Watson stood in his small town clinic with his beta parents, confused and oblivious to his surroundings and being tested as if there was something the matter with his tiny fragile body, or being looked at as if he was about to grow a second head at any moment by both his parents and the doctor, he didn’t really know what to think.

The adults were talking as if something was about to happen and the nurses, always soft and sweet, were whispering nice little things to console his constants protests when they took him to numerous tests and body checkings.

You see, John was might have been young and just a kid but that didn’t mean that he was stupid. He didn’t like the way everybody was treating him or the way they were looking at him; even his 9 year-old sister was staring at him in awe, quiet and curious, which was weird and unusual in itself because she was usually noisy and outgoing in all kind of situations. But right now, all she did was stay still by their parent’s side, solemn and nervous. John was stuck wearing a set of blue hospital robes, so he didn’t feel at all very comfortable.

The first doctor; glasses perched upon a strong nose and a scent that was strong yet not at all disgusting, came up to him with a chart and a packet of papers in his right hand. He silently gazed at John and sat down on his desk, eyes calculating and assessing. John’s parents sat down in the seats in front of him, very still and very quiet; John didn’t like it and he soon grew restless, tension apparent.

“Mr. and Mrs. Watson,” started the medic, placing the papers in front of him on his desk. “I see that congratulations are in order. It is apparent by the results of both the blood test and the ultrasound; we can assure you that your son is completely positive for an Omega”.

Mr. Watson and Mrs. Watson didn’t even try to hide the surprise in their faces.

 An Omega.

Such a rare and exquisite being born in a house full of betas, what were the chances of that? John probably didn’t know what that meant, for his body and his life or his family.

“The procedure in this case is to register the omega in omega services immediately, you can do that through the hospital if that is your wish, it will even ease and rush the whole process, but you can do it on your own at any other time if that is what you wish, just before the due date that will be exactly in two months,” the doctor looked pleased; giving a few quick glances at John as if the boy were the prince of England. John felt uncomfortable with the whole atmosphere; he could sense the change in the air and the change in the behavior of the people around him as well.

“We will register him through the hospital,” Mr. Watson said with an odd expression on his face; he still couldn’t get over the fact that his son was an omega “What will happen to him after he is registered?”

The doctor smiled smugly; glad that Mr. Watson had asked the question he had been waiting for.

“The usual, of course; John may remain with you, but when the first heat presents, the child will be taken into a security house with the omega care system. You may live with him or you can send him on his own, whichever you think is best,” The doctor tried to say all this as calmly as he possibly could, John’s mother who had barely gotten over the shock, grimaced at the mere thought  of being parted from her child. “I’m afraid it is just far too dangerous for omegas to be wandering about…any alpha can simply take them if they want. John won’t smell like an Omega until his uterus is ready to release the first ovum and the first heat presents, which will expose him as a fertile and unbonded omega to any alpha that can smell him and they will try to bond him without a doubt. We cannot allow that to happen…omegas are too precious to be go to waste.”

John frowned; for the first time he just realized that they were talking about him, but he still didn’t fully understand what they meant with all the complicated words being thrown around. A nurse, the one with the sweet calming scent, came to him wearing a motherly smile and took him by the hand, pulling him out of the warm room, away from his parents and sister.

“Don’t you worry, little one. Everything will be okay now,” she assured him, knowing that something was wrong with John and was just was trying to comfort him.

It didn’t work.

“What are they talking about? What is an omega?” he asked, impatient and more confused than ever.

She smiled warmly; she bent down at the knees, lowering herself to John’s height and leaned in close to whisper to him quietly. “You know about scents, don’t you? How people’s scents are different but some are similar to others? They told you about this in school, didn’t they?” John nodded, recalling how his parents, who were betas, smelled like most people did; it was a common but not completely unbearable smell and his mind quickly supplied him with the word _normal- ordinary_. “You are an Omega, which makes you special, similar to alphas but even far more special than them”.

John remembers hearing about it from time to time; small tidbits from stolen conversations. But the adults were always so discreet about the topic that he never really got the chance to fully understand it. Betas made mostly the entire population of the world; they were common and simple, with dull scents and an instant disposition to follow. Alphas, on the other hand, were almost always glorified, natural born leaders and with strong bodies and personalities, even when they were less than the betas, they were not actually all that uncommon; you could find them everywhere, though the most valued ones were the ones who came from an important pure alpha linage.

Omegas however, were rare, unique and special. It was hard to come by one your entire life, and because the natural vulnerability of their bodies was taken care of always, once an omega was identified, they were put into the omega care system, where they would be paired with an alpha of a great lineage and blood line. Male and female omegas were both able to get pregnant and could mate with both alphas and betas easily enough. Their fertile years were greater than that of a beta woman. However, the most precious gift of omegas was their heats; once an omega entered their heat - which would happen every month - an immediately entered an instant rut and their instincts of possessiveness and desire to reproduce were unbearable, especially when it lasted for three days.

Little John, who was currently only seven years old, couldn’t really understand all the fuss that came with being (or not) an Omega. _Didn’t everyone just look the same?_ At least, that’s what he had thought until that day.

“So am I special?” John’s voice was curious but puzzled, not knowing exactly how to react to the new information he clearly didn’t understand yet.

“You are very special indeed,” the kind nurse told him with a sweet smile. One of her pale thin hands touched the blond’s right shoulder, a show of protection and care coming from a beta to a new discovered omega. “One day, when you present, you will be paired with your destined Alpha, just like the pretty fairytales you watch on the telly and read in the books, wouldn’t that be great?”

John didn’t bother to answer the question, he was still confused and even if he wasn’t, what was he supposed to say?

_Yes?_

At the moment he didn’t really feel special at all. He just wanted to go home and play board games with his sister Harry, or go outside to the yard, and play soccer with his father, like he used to do before any of this happened.

And even when everyone around him kept saying that being an omega was a  special and unique gift, that he would be adored and appreciated and that someday he will meet his so called “destined alpha” that was meant just for him? Well, let’s just say that little John Watson didn’t feel gifted at all.

 

 

 

\-----o-----

 

 

 

John played with his brand new train, bought by the employees of the Omega Care System.

His life changed dramatically after being proclaimed an Omega; the government moved them to a house that was twice the size of his old house, now they lived in London, the very heart of England. They had bought him new toys and fancy clothes, his father had gotten a raise and was relocated to the capitol and his mother, who was a kindergarten teacher, was hired suddenly in a posh academy for children that were extremely well off. Even his sister had been moved to a better school along with John. John’s family became, if not rich, a family with a decent amount of money.

But three months after his announcement and his relocations, one day out of the month that the Omega Care System came to pay one of their visits, they came along with big and unexpected news.

“Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Watson,” said one of the betas, a woman with blonde hair usually always tied up into a pony tail and a high voice that John didn’t feel entirely comfortable with “A very old and rich family has applied to make an offer for John.”

John’s mother, Lisa, had been helping Harry with homework when the other beta informed them of the shocking news, her face went black and pale. Her husband, Richard, who had been reading the newspaper on the sofa right next to John, gasped and almost had a heart attack at the mention of an offer.

“What? What family?” his father asked with a shaky voice, glancing down at John quickly.

“The Holmes family,” the voice of the blonde dependent was excited. She knew exactly what it meant to be selected by such an old and powerful family as the Holmes’s. Everybody knew the Holmes, famous and proud for their blue blooded lineage of strong and brilliant Alphas. Every member of the family had studied at Oxford or Cambridge and went on to complete courses at Harvard or Stanford, even Yale and Princeton. After their studies concluded, they usually worked for the government in a high position or went on to become a wealthy and successful businessman.

“The head family of the Holmes has an Alpha boy about John’s age, they have been looking for an Omega for him and our little John here, caught their eye. We have been having talks with them and they decided to send their application to formally ask for John’s hand in marriage, on behalf of their son,” the irritating beta ended her speech with a smile, flushed with pride and devotion, as if she was the one who was going to marry and bond with a Holmes and not John.

Neither Richard nor Lisa knew what to say about it. They both wanted the best for their son, regardless of being an Omega, and that included John being able to have a say in his own life; how he wanted to live it and with whom he wanted to spend the rest of it as well. But they had known, since the moment they were told that their younger child was an Omega that his entire life would have to be planned from then on. He could decide who he wanted to bond with but all his options would be provided by the Omega System. He wouldn’t be able to marry a Beta for example nor just any Alpha. He would have to marry an Alpha with a powerful and known linage, because the Alpha and Omega population was starting to die out along with the entire population of the world and the fertility of betas was decreasing with extraordinary speed. Thus, every Omega in the world was compelled to mate with an Alpha and have at least two kids in their lives. Even if they refused the Holmes’ offer, John would just have to bond with another rich Alpha.

 “I know that this is a hard decision that can’t be done all of a sudden, Mr. and Mrs. Watson, but this is probably the best offer you be getting. The Holmes are a very exclusive and powerful family; they are the best when it comes to Alpha history and a pure blood line and the offer will not be made twice”.

Richard and Lisa Watson stared at each other with doubt on their faces, and then look at their son who played so innocently at the floor with his new train, without even knowing that in that instant his future was being held. Richard looked back at the Omega System represent and nod, grabbing his wife`s hand and pulling her with him outside of the living room, they were followed by the blonde beta into another room to read and sign the papers who will seal John`s future forever.

 

 

 

\-----o-----

 

 

 

John was only eight when he first met his fiancée. His parents were dressed so formally that day; a black suit and a nice tie for his father and an elegant new silk dress for his mother. For a moment he had thought that maybe they would be attending a really sophisticated wedding, the likes of which royalty would be getting married or something as equally ridiculous as that. He was wearing a nice outfit that consisted of short grey trousers, a white button up shirt with a blue silk tie and a brown jacket.

He was taken to an enormous mansion that could easily be mistaken for a small villa or castle. It was just outside of London but not so far away; it was surrounded by the largest and most amazing garden that John could have ever imagined in his entire life, and it was all so heavily protected by tall and impressive black gates and walls of white marble rock. The inside of the mansion, incredibly enough, was even more beautiful than the outside: the shiny wooden floor, the white walls with colonial French designs, the expensive furniture and huge chandeliers made of pure gold and crystal, old and original paints all over the high walls. The only thing that managed to tear his gaze away from his surroundings was the posh good looking couple walking down the spiral stairs in front of them. They were dressed similarly to John’s parents but with confidence in their walk that was both glamorous and imposing.

“It is a pleasure to finally meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Watson. Welcome to our home,” The man had a surprisingly deep voice and he was tall and thin, with beautiful blue green grey eyes that seemed to have the ability to see through your very soul.

The woman, who was shorter than the man but still tall enough, greeted them with a bright warm smile and held her hand out to both of his parents before addressing John, who throughout this ordeal had frozen up and was now currently very still. “And this must be John Watson, goodness; he is even more handsome in real life than in the pictures that the Omega System provided for us”.

She directed her smile fully at him this time and even though it was supposed to be warm and welcoming, it sent shivers down John’s spine.

“It is a pleasure for us, Mr. and Mrs. Holmes,” his father said simply while offering his hand.

“Oh, do call me Siger, Mr. Watson; after all we are going to be family in the near future. This is my wife, Violet.”

John’s mother smiled at both although it was one of her kind but worrying smiles, not completely sure on how to proceed with such an invitation, after all, the people standing currently in front of her were the famous Sigerson and Violet Holmes in the flesh. It felt surreal.

“So, we will love to get straight to the dining room, the food is ready,” said Mr. Holmes with a kind smile on his face “John will eat in another room with our son, he is already waiting for him”.

John was led by one of the butlers through one of the long and wide halls down to a set of closed double doors. With a graceful flick of his wrist, he quickly opened both of the doors to show a warm room similar to the living room where he had been standing in before. Except that here, there was a plush white rug all over the wooden floor. In the middle of it, there was a small but nice dining table and at the head of it was another child with a mess of dark curls all over his head. He was looking right at John and just like before with Mr. Holmes, he found himself staring into an infinite penetrating sea of turquoise. His skin was pale and seemed almost like paper and his pink lips were pursed tightly, a scowl already apparent on his face.

“Hi,” John finally said, suddenly shy “I`m John Watson.”

“I know who you are,” a small voice said, childish yet still deep.

And that was all he got. Not a name, not even a greeting.

Just _that_.

“It would be nice if I could get your name as well, you know,” huffed John with a frown already marring his adorably angry face.

“As my promised Omega, you should know it by heart already,” the boy scoffed “But fine, I will comply. I am Sherlock Holmes”.

The boy in front of him was older? Younger? He didn’t even know. John hadn’t even known his future mate’s name before today.

“I am older than you, by a year,” the other boy responded, as if he had been reading his mind.

John looked at the boy, impressed.

Sherlock looked at John, bored.

“Come here now. We are supposed to eat.”

John obeyed immediately at the commanding tone in the Alpha’s voice; John didn’t have Omega pheromones yet, because they wouldn’t start to produce until he started to ovulate but Sherlock’s scent was pure Alpha: Strong, potent and exquisite; John’s smell was soft and sweet, but not yet as addictive as Sherlock’. When the young Alpha said the tiniest of orders something inside the Omega’s mind told him to obey.

“Alpha scents are designed to attract Omegas instantly, even Betas find it addictive,” the boy said, almost with disdain, reading John’s mind as if it were a piece of paper. “Stop being so loudly oblivious, I know that I’m supposed to have a mate but I will prefer it if at least this so called mate was not a complete idiot.”

Well.

That’s all that John could say. Nope, that wasn’t at all how he had imagined it would be; he was told so many times before that his mate would be his perfect match, a man or woman who completed him in every sense and possible way; finding him would only set him free. But all John got was a posh attitude and sarcastic offensive comments. He didn’t think that was true love at all. Sherlock observed him when the blond omega sat right beside him on the dining table. A maid with a beta scent and dark skin served them both a nice dish of soup and a full glass of water right before leaving them alone. He didn’t know if Sherlock would talk to him, insult him, humiliate him or just make him angry but the brunette only started picked up his spoon with a straight face and started eating. There was nothing left to say. John felt uncomfortable throughout the entire lunch.

 

 

 

\------0------

 

 

 

“I don’t wanna go!”

John was currently standing in the middle of his living room with an angry scowl on his face and was screaming every snarky comment he could think of without actually being disrespectful. His parents were standing in front of him with tired expressions on their faces and sadness in their eyes.

It was summertime and ever since the lunch that he spent at the Holmes estate, the wealthy family had requested for John and his family to spend every single summer up until John’s first heat at the summer house the Holmes owned in Sussex. John, currently twelve, had complied obediently the first time but since then everything went downhill. He didn’t like Sherlock any more than Sherlock liked John. The two of them went at it like cats and dogs every time they had the occasion to see each other.

His parents could hardly blame their son. As much as Sherlock was brilliant, talented in both science and sports, he was also wild in the most peculiar of ways; he would go around parading his intelligence about and making deductions of random people who would happen to pop inside of a room. They had the misfortune of having to endure his great “talent”; most of his “brilliant deductions” were either insulting or embarrassing. John couldn’t handle the brunette’s temper or rudeness. Sherlock opinion about the blond had no changed. The grey eyed child would call John all kinds of names, proclaiming that he was too dull and stupid to be his mate.

Neither the Holmes nor the Watsons knew how to handle this issue. However, the Holmes requested for John to continue going to their summer house, so that over time, they would get used to the idea that they were going to be a bonded couple in the future, get married and have children. Apparently the best solution was to give them time and as much shared space as they possibly could, but it seemed that it was just a tug of war between the two boys and neither one wanted to lose the fight.

“John, you know how it is,” Richard Watson tried to talk his son out of his temper tantrum, but his voice, unsure and soft didn’t seem to have much effect.

“Yes, exactly, I know how it is. I will go there and he will insult me and call me stupid and boring and I will spent the rest of the summer inside that posh and strange house trying not to kill him,” the blond’s face twisted into a combination of frustration and open disgust.

“Sweetie, you cannot refuse, we already accepted and the Omega Care System would just come to get you anyway.”

“I don’t care!”

Lisa Watson just sighed. It wasn’t the first time this happened, ever since the first summer John seemed reluctant to even talk about Sherlock and his family. If it wasn’t for the Omega System she would have quickly dissolved the marriage proposal but they couldn’t, they had already tried. Once you formally accept and sign the contract there was no going back unless the Alpha’s family wanted to back down or the Omega had a health problem that made him unable to conceive children, but that was extremely rare and found usually only in cases of cancer in the uterus, where the radiation of chemotherapy would make it so the uterus wouldn’t produce an ovum. But John was both, perfectly healthy and the Holmes family seemed pleased with their choice, even when their son could not stand John at all.

“Young man, I am sorry but you are going and that’s final,” Richard ordered, determination written all over his face. He was firm and clear and there would be no changing his mind.

John huffed, now in full sulk mode and ran upstairs as if his life depended on it. Once he had reached his bedroom - blue painted walls, a large queen size bed with soft covers, a desk with a modern computer over it, a television hanging from a wall, a large walk in closet and a small library mostly full of medical encyclopedias, biology books and young adult novels, and a door that connected to his own bathroom -  he let himself fall onto the comfortable bed, turning his head to his right where he could stare at the big black suitcase already packed, standing in the corner of the wall. He cursed and turned to the other side, trying to ignore the fact that he will have to spend another month with the Holmes’.

 

 

 

\--------0--------

 

 

 

John Watson was now fifteen years old. It was summer once again and for the first time in his entire life, he will have to spend it with the Holmes’ completely alone. It was a combination of different things: he was now old enough to apparently go through these matters on his own without needing his parents to take care of him, and at the same time, his older sister, Harry, had presented as an Alpha, to the surprise of their Beta parents. She had been selected to go to an important athletics competition in France. Thus, their parents had to go with her instead because she was still underage.

He had finally arrived at the summer house earlier - which was almost as big as the Holmes mansion; it resemble a small castle with its tall grey walls which were carved with classical shapes similar to those of the Renaissance era - John wouldn’t be surprised if anybody told him that Holmes’ possessed original sculptures of Miguel Angelo or genuine paints of DaVinci. The beautiful familiar sight never failed to impress him but that still didn’t mean that he wanted to go inside and pretend to have a great time with the weird family.

In the cursed years since he has known the Holmes family, he had managed to befriend Mycroft Holmes, the polite son of the family. Even if John and Mycroft weren’t close enough to be able to call themselves good friends, he was always better company than Sherlock on his best day. He had discovered that Mycroft was even more brilliant than Sherlock himself and sometimes just as dubious as the younger Holmes. He was always up for a good chat when boredom got the best of John; wandering around the infinite amount of halls and rooms of the house seemed to entertain him for a couple of years, but after the fourth summer he already knew the mansion by heart.

Sherrinford Holmes, the oldest son of the Holmes’ and the big brother of both Mycroft and Sherlock, was ten years John senior, while Mycroft was eight and Sherlock barely one, so the blond didn’t have much of a chance to see him around the house, much less get to know him. All he knew about him was the few counted times he had dinner with the family and the rest of his time, he was further occupied at the university. When he had finished his studies, he started working with the government as was expected of him.

The Holmes brothers all looked alike, though Mycroft resemblance leaned toward Violet’s side of the family more than Siger’s. Sherrinford was as handsome, as most men wanted to be; he was really tall with a thin athletic composition, he had a square jaw, high cheekbones and green-grey stormy eyes, all of which he had inherited from his father, while his thin long nose, small ears and thick brown hair were his mother’s.

Mycroft had brown, almost ginger like straight hair that often liked to curl at the ends when he allowed it to grow more than the usual. His rounded face was similar to his mother’s and the long pointy nose was his father’s as well as thin eyebrows and ears. Mycroft shared his grey eyes with his famous uncle Phillip and Violet; being the middle brother he had always been heavier than both Sherrinford and Sherlock, but never fat or overweight. If you asked John, he would even say that he was thin, although Sherlock liked to mock him by calling him “fatty” because he had a sweet tooth and used to be chubby as a child

Sherlock, on the other hand, was as tall as a pillar and even as pale as one, even though he was always a bit shorter than both Sherrinford and Mycroft. He had the penetrating deep blue green eyes that he shared with, both his father and oldest brother but even then that seemed to be even more unique on him; his high cheekbones were so sharp that it made his brother’s pale in comparison, his thick eyebrows and always messy curly black hair kept him attractive and young. His thin form always managed to move with a ballerina’s grace even when it was supposed to be messy and uncoordinated, and his deep baritone voice always crawled inside his mind and sent shivers down his spine.

His true Omega nature would always try to make him purr just by the smell of the strong sweet Alpha scent that grew even more powerful each and every year.

“You’re here,” Sherlock muttered with a tired sigh as he sat on his usual chair, a book in his hands.

“Not by choice,” John reminded him while taking along his belongings to his usual room, right next to Sherlock’s which were connected together by a door.

“Seems like your sister is an Alpha now,” Sherlock said out of the blue and if John hadn’t already known him he would have turned around with an annoyed and surprised look on his face. “Congratulations, I suppose.”

The normal reaction to something like this was surely not that. A normal Alpha would grow angry and possessive at the possibility of having another Alpha so close to his Omega, even when a sibling wasn’t much of a threat. But then again, Sherlock wasn’t a normal Alpha, let alone a normal human being. But he was right, having an Alpha in a Beta-Beta marriage was always something to celebrate and praise.

“Thanks, I guess.”

“Your parents must have extraordinary genes for being both Betas and being capable of producing Alpha and Omega children.”

John decided to ignore the comment, at this rate he didn’t know if Sherlock was actually being sincere or just being sarcastic and he opted instead to grab the medical book he had been reading earlier while he was sitting in the car on his way here. When he was finishing up a paragraph, Sherlock mumbled under his breath and lifted his hypnotic eyes from his book, catching John’s attention.

“Looks like you still want to be a doctor.”

“Yeah.”

“Hmm. Rare choice for an Omega.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, for a moment I had forgotten that I’m only just a breeder, my only job is to pop out numerous Alpha or Omega children for you, how thrilling,” the sarcasm in John´s voice was thick and obvious, but not any less annoying for Sherlock.

The Alpha glared at him.

“That’s not what I meant, though it isn’t like any Alpha would let an Omega do such a thing anyway,” he stated, going back to his book.

John blanched and lowered his book, surprise written over his face.

“Would you…” he swallowed, it was suddenly hard to breathe “…would you forbid me being a doctor?”

Sherlock kept reading his book as if the question was never asked, however while he quietly turned a page, he started to talk again “Most of Alphas don’t allow their Omegas to go to university; there is no use because they are always too busy keeping them pregnant anyway, and even when they do allow them to assist, they usually allows them to study domestic arts or something as dull as interior design or careers with a more artistic purchase.”

Sherlock lifted his eyes to watch John’s pale face, John was frightened and with every second that Sherlock let pass without giving him a proper answer, that fear seemed to only increase.

“However, I’m not like most Alphas. Honestly, John,” he sighed and went back to his book “you can study whatever you’d like and if you were to choose, I must add that Medicine is hardly a poor choice. Science is always interesting enough, and even I must admit that not just any idiot can do it.”

John let out a breath that he hadn’t realized he had been holding. For a moment, he had actually thought that Sherlock would be capable of forbidding him to follow the only dream he had ever had. He could handle his union to Sherlock, as ridiculous as it was, he could handle the fact that one day he would marry him and certainly give him pups, but he couldn’t live the boring plain life that most Omegas lived; watching their Alpha husbands and wives having the thrilling life that they had always wanted. Granted, even though a life with Sherlock was not precisely what he had in mind for himself, he could be sure that a life with the Alpha could never be boring.

They then settled themselves into a comfortable silence after that, both reading their books and minding their own business.

 

 

 

 

It was in the middle of the night, three days after his arrival to the Sussex summer house, when he finally entered his first heat.

It was close to midnight when it happened.

He ate dinner earlier with the entire Holmes family; even Sherrinford found the time to pay a small visit to the estate and spent a whole week at the mansion. The dinner was delicious and was accompanied by the strange dynamic amongst the family; usually most of the talking was done by Mr. Holmes, who liked to question the boys on their school work or job, their life in general and their hobbies. John felt oddly tired throughout the entire duration of it. He could barely keep his eyes open and he had tried so hard to not yawn. Once he had managed to make it through the dinner he quickly excused himself and went directly to his room to throw himself onto the soft bed. He didn’t even bother to take a shower first.

Suddenly, although he had been soundly asleep, he was awoken by a strange burning sensation in his gut and his skin started to itch as if a small fire was taking place underneath his skin. He rubbed himself against the soft Egyptian cotton covers and when the friction wasn’t enough, he took his shirt off, suddenly hot and desperate. He was fully awake now and he finally took notice of the wetness in between his legs. It wasn’t sweat, he observed, even when that particularly secretion was forming in the back of his neck. He gasped when he was hit by a sudden emptiness; it was forming inside his very core and his arse and just then, he quickly recognized the symptoms right when he felt the slight throbbing of his male vaginal genitalia.

“No…oh my God, no,” John threw his head back onto the softness of the pillows, letting it absorb his cold sweat. His hair, now damp and stuck to his forehead, was ruffled and a blond mess.

He needed…oh God…he needed something up his arse and he needed it right away. It was painful and insufferable in the strangest of ways; the first instinct his mind supplied him with was to put a few of his fingers inside himself, there where he forbidden himself to touch out of fear and hatred. He had never wanted to be an Omega. True, he didn’t particularly hate it, but the mere thought of being given away to an Alpha just so that he’d be his broodmare and serve to give him small pups to continue his family line had gotten the best of him throughout the years. So, in an act of pure defiance against his own biology that begged him to touch and feel, he refuse to touch such a place.

Now, there wasn’t anything more he wanted in the world than to do just that.

Suddenly, the door that connected his bedroom to his intended mate, slammed opened with a burst.

Sherlock stood by the door, his expression wild. His hair, blacker now in the darkness, was a mess of tangled curls and his eyes were wide open. It made him look like a lunatic, granted, a very handsome lunatic but a lunatic nonetheless. He was wearing his silk pajamas, which let John now that he had been sleeping before this had happened. The young man advanced a step without taking his eyes off of John, his breathing was irregular and his hands were trembling slightly. His eyes, God, his eyes were filled with so much lust; it was pure in its intensity and it was exquisite. John purred and Sherlock growled before launching himself onto John’s body, landing over him.

“John…”

God, his voice.

_His voice was pure sex._

“Sherlock.”

And that was all it took to set free the Alpha nature that even Sherlock couldn’t deny he possessed.

“Mine!”

Sherlock held John down by his shoulders while the Omega threw his head back to allow his Alpha to scent his neck, presenting himself proudly. Sherlock took the prize with a growl and started lapping at the offered flesh. His hands started roaming all over the slightly masculine body above him, examining every inch and every piece of the perfect and delicious skin of his soon to be mate.

“You are mine,” Sherlock rasped out “Mine and only mine.”

“Yours…”

The Omega in him knew exactly what to say to seduce the Alpha to mount him, breed him and bite him. The words slurred out so easily, so naturally from his mouth than John started to wonder why he had ever denied himself such an incredible and beautiful pleasure.

“Fertile, so damn fertile,” The Alpha purred now, probably not even aware of his own words “Baby…give me a baby, I know you have a baby in there, give it to me…”

If you had asked John while he was in a lucid state of mind, if he wanted children he probably would say yes, after he finished his studies as a doctor, got a stable job and the right amount of happiness in his life. He could definitely adventure the thought of having a couple of kids. However, if you asked him if he wanted to have a child right now, right this second, normally, he would probably laugh in your face. Right now though, those words coming out of Sherlock’s mouth was the sexiest thing he had ever heard.

Even when Sherlock wasn’t very much the parental type, he knew the responsibilities he had with his family, ones he couldn’t just ignore. The lucid Sherlock, the one who spent most of the time insulting half of the people who happened to live in England and who was much more concerned about knowledge and science, would have never allowed this to go any further. But the wild Alpha in him, the one that wanted very much so to mount John right now was throw into his very first rut at the delicious smell of a sweet Omega in estrus, a compatible mate, and that was all that Sherlock’s body craved right now.

“Come on, John,” Sherlock pleaded at him, impatient and nipping at his jaw in such a way that John couldn’t help but to moan shamelessly “Don’t you want a baby? A beautiful baby? I can give you one…I will give you one, get you so pregnant that you could barely stand, fill you with so much of my come that you would have triplets... you wait and see John, we will have smart and pretty babies.”

“God yes, Sherlock… give me a baby.”

“Everyone will know that I did it, that it was me who got you up the duff, the one who was virile enough to fill you with pups.”

“Yes, Sherlock, yes…”

“Don’t you want my knot? My knot, so thick, so full…” a moan was ripped out of John’s throat when Sherlock mentioned it.

Finally, that was it; that was what needed to ease his hunger, his lust. His entire body trembled at the mere mention of it.

“You’re perfect, completely perfect, beautiful, and you are mine, only mine…let me put it inside you, my cock, my knot, my come, my babies, everything, John!”

John was about to purr his satisfaction and approval when the door burst open again.

Sherrinford stood at the entrance with a surprised look on his face, too absorbed in the smell of hormones lingering in the air. Sherlock must have smelt the other Alpha in the room, because he turned around and bared his teeth at the intruding man, sensing the challenge of another Alpha willing to steal his mate.

Without saying any words, Sherrinford walked over to them and grabbed Sherlock away from John, even when his younger brother started kicking out, trying to dislodge the hold on him so he could escape. It took him some effort but the man was finally able to remove the younger Alpha from the room before shutting the door behind him. John started whining miserably at the loss of Sherlock’s touch.

Hadn’t he promise him relief? His cock, his knot…his spawn? Where was he then, where was his mate when he needed him the most?

The door opened again and the Beta butler, Edward, brought a syringe along with him. He stepped in closer to the omega, leaned in with the needle and quickly inserted it into his right arm. Almost immediately, his mind shut down, leaving him with a peaceful and quiet darkness.

 

 

 

When he woke up again from the silent bliss of the earlier sedation, he was completely alone in his room and the white sheets wrapped around him were clean and soft, nothing at all like the ones he had left damp at night while he was in heat. His body didn’t particularly hurt but his muscles felt slightly wobbly and he was certain that walking would take him more than one try. Just when he was about to try performing the first trial the door opened up quietly and the thin silhouette of Violet Holmes appeared in the doorway.

“May I come in?” she asked in such a soft and delicate manner that John felt he was being rude by just the way he was staring at her.

“Of course…”

Violet only smiled softly before stepping forward and shutting the door behind her, her high heels clicking against the floor as she walked up to him. He tried to ignore how much the sound irritated him. Violet Holmes has been nothing but attentive and generous with him and John knew it, but no matter how gracious and giving she was, she was still imposing and intimidating.

“Are you feeling better?” she asked while she sat beside John.

“Better than I had expected.”

“Yes, there is not much to expect when you are an Omega entering your first heat; trust me darling, I have been there,” she said with a soft tinkling laugh and for a moment, John felt the comment held more value than just a casual remark - more like something told in secrecy than a simple truth.

John nodded.

“Sherlock had to be removed from the room by Sherrinford while you two were too out of it to think about the consequences of bonding at such a young age,” the other Omega stared at the floor while she spoke “my husband wanted you both to bond right away.”

John gaped at her with a mix of confusion and terror. He didn’t remember much of his first heat to be honest, only the burning pain of the emptiness inside his womb and the sweet smell in the air that made him purr in pleasure.

“…but?” John inquired.

“There is nothing wrong with the old traditions, mind you, but…” she gave him one of her soft modest smiles before continuing “when I bonded with Siger, he was twenty years old, I was barely sixteen and it was my first heat. I had the misfortune of it happening at daylight; I was reading a book behind a tree and Sager was riding his horse through the Holmes manor…let’s just say I was too close to the fence that separated my family summer house with this one.”

John couldn’t help looking at her with brand new eyes; her slightly curly dark blonde hair falling from her shoulders shielded her face behind the beautiful locks and the light of the sun. Violet Holmes was an extraordinarily beautiful woman in every sense of the word, she was tall and thin but with a figure to kill for. Her grey eyes were consuming and infinite and her words often seemed to soften her already sweet face; the years passed and time went by but she never seemed to get any older.

“Siger found me just when I was feeling the burn; he at least had enough common sense to take me into the Holmes house before claiming me as his mate,” another bland smile “Siger has been a wonderful husband ever since  and we get along well, eventually I fell in love with him and he with me,” she finally raised her eyes to look back at him, her full lips that Sherlock had inherited, pursed, “Although, if I was given the choice at that time…I would probably have never left my room that day.”

The words echoed inside of John’s head over and over again. These kinds of things were probably not meant to be said, or at least, he was sure Violet Holmes had never opened up in this way with anybody else but him at that very moment. John couldn’t stop himself from feeling flattered by the thought.

“I think that Sherlock and you are perfect for each other…but I also think that with all the decisions we have already taken from you, and I do mean our family, your parents and the Omega System, at least you should have control over when you and my son decide to make your union official.”

At this point, John couldn’t even stay mad about the whole ridiculous situation, all he knew now is that his reproductive cycle had begun and that in another 30 days or so he would have another horrible heat. He was sure he couldn’t hide inside of his room for three whole days all the time. He would never be able to become a doctor by taking days off every month or so, his studies were already too demanding to allow himself such nonsense.

As if Violet had the ability to read his mind, which wouldn’t even surprise John at all, the tall woman made a dismissive gesture with her hand to ease John’s mind.

“You will be on suppressants, of course.”

Well, at least one of the Holmes finally made sense.

 

 

“If it hadn’t been for Sherrinford you would already be pregnant right now.”

Sherlock reminded him with obvious displeasure, as if the whole situation was entirely his fault. The tall Alpha paced the room, he was like a child, and he couldn’t seem to stay still. John was starting to feel dizzy from his quick pacing.

“Would you cut it out?” John requested with a tired voice while one of his hands pinched the bridge of his nose.

Sherlock complied but there was still an upset expression on his face

“I don’t think you fully understand, John,” his baritone voice rose louder than usual “we were this close to not only being bonded but also having you up the duff” the Alpha made a small gesture with his fingers before he started pacing the room again.

“Yes, but I’m not…So, would you please cut it out already?” John was afraid to tell him that he was right, that he was even more scared than Sherlock could ever be and that he didn’t want to ever feel that helpless over his own body again, but he couldn’t bring himself to say the words. If he did, it would only make the situation even more real that it already was.

“The next time, Sherrinford won’t happen to be so conveniently around when your heat reappears.”

“Reappears? Oh God, you actually think I’m doing this again? Pft! No, nope, I won’t go through that whole mess again if I can help it! I’m on suppressants now so do not even go there.”

“Ha!” Sherlock mocked “You think my mother will be there to save you again? How nice, how innocent, John; my father will make us bond as soon as we happen to share another summer together, that is a given.”

John was about to reply when Sherlock made a face and started to move his hands in the air like a madman. He then realized that he was imitating his father, a very poor attempt John had to admit.

“Traditions Sherlock, traditions define us…for God’s sake, what a ridiculous old prick!”

John rolled his eyes before snuggling back against the cushions of the sofa where he was currently sitting. He would never admit to Sherlock or say it out loud, but he was terrified.

 

John spent the rest of his stay at the Holmes state with an uncomfortable tension around him. Of course, for some reason he and Sherlock had finally stopped throwing insults at each other every now and then; they preferred to peacefully ignore each other most of the time instead but John felt the most uncomfortable around the great Siger Holmes.

The tall imposing man look at him with a strange glare in his eyes, as if a baby was going to suddenly burst from within the confines of his jumpers. It actually gave him the chills. Sherlock had also changed his attitude towards him; a couple of times, when Sherrinford got too close to John, even if it was to pass the salt over during a dinner, Sherlock would growl at him. On a certain occasion, the young Alpha had reached a particularly new shade of jealousy that John didn’t even think was possible to even achieve in the genius teen.

Mycroft and John had been chatting by the fireplace, something about Cambridge, where Mycroft currently was about to matriculate, when Sherlock burst into the room, looking like hell and grabbed him by the arm until they reached Sherlock’s room. He then ordered him to wait there and to not go out under any circumstances.

Violet later explained to him that such behavior was expected of an Alpha that had gotten into a rut recently and that the jealousy was caused by the interrupted heat that he was meant to share with his Omega, especially since he was “challenged” by another Alpha, who in this case, was Sherrinford.

John wanted to say that it was ridiculous to feel threatened by someone else when clearly John had been promised to Sherlock since he was eight. Violet only smiled and told him that Sherrinford had actually talked to her after the incident happened.

The oldest Holmes brother hadn’t shown up in the room to save his brother and his mate from a premature bonding; he had been reading a few books out in the living room that was closer to Sherlock and John’s room, when he had smelt the hypnotizing pheromones and he had allowed himself to follow his Alpha instincts that screamed at him to take the Omega and breed him. It was just when he saw Sherlock over John’s body that he had reacted and he shook himself out of his stupor before he could do anything he would regret. He had walked directly up to his snarling younger brother and pulled him out of the room before he too could make a big mistake.

John wasn’t sure what to do with this new piece of information, he was sure that he wouldn’t say a word of it to Sherlock though. If the young man wasn’t already overtaken by jealousy and possessiveness then something like this would definitely ramp him up further directly into madness. John also made sure to keep his distance from Sherrinford after that as well.

So, poor John passed the last days of his stay with the Holmes in an absolutely uncomfortable game between three Alphas and a lost Omega.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first chapter has been edited because I decided to ask my current beta to correct the mistakes that I made. Now´s better ;)


	2. Nothing Scares Me Anymore

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Years passed by but John and Sherlock cannot forget each other

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IM BACK! I´m so sorry for taking so long but I got sick and have a christmas festival next week, ballet lessons are also strenuous :(
> 
> But true to my word I´m back with another chapter, also the corrections are made by my amazing Beta JohnWatsonMMD. I´m grateful for her time and patience :)
> 
> So here it is.
> 
> *UPDATE* This chapter is now edited with another beta, enjoy the story better with the corrections :)

_He was free. He was finally free._

_Or at least that’s what it seemed like._

_It was August 7 th and that meant that John Watson was finally eighteen years old. For an average Omega, that would mean that it was the right and proper time for a bonding with their chosen Alpha, but for the John it meant freedom; pure, liberating and beautiful freedom._

_After his traumatic experience at the summerhouse three years ago; when his heat had presented itself in the middle of the night, which not only caught him by surprise, but had also provoked the always in control Sherlock Holmes to go into his first Alpha rut, he didn’t feel comfortable with neither Sherlock nor his family. After such a terrible experience, he had sworn to himself that he would never allow it to repeat itself for as long as he could possibly avoid it. He tried to spend every minute of his stay with the family as far away from the Alphas as he could. That said, each and every one of them, with the exception of the beautiful and always charming Omega Violet Holmes were as much of a threat as anything else._

_As Sherlock had promised when the first heat appeared, his father would, without a doubt, try to encourage his son to bond with the inexperienced Omega. Sherlock later confessed to the blond, in a strange demonstration and token of trust that he had never thought possible of the black haired man, that he had once spent a heat with an infertile Omega who because of a birth defect couldn’t bear children but could still on the other hand have mock heats that lasted less than a fertile regular heat and were as enjoyable as a heat should be, right after John left the Holmes summer house on that terrible year._

_Sherlock made clear to John that he didn’t have any say on the matter; he simply had gotten home and the Omega was there inside his room. He also happened to be older than Sherlock and was already in the trots of an awful heat, whimpering in the middle of his bed. When he had tried to run, he quickly realized that the door was locked from the outside. The intoxicating scent got the best of him, he just did what any Alpha in his right mind would do, and he took the Omega then._

_The sudden confession made John freeze on the spot; he didn’t really know what to say to the Alpha who seemed ashamed about the whole mess._

_What could he possibly say though? He wasn’t really jealous because he wasn’t in love with his future mate but something inside of him, probably his ridiculous Omega instincts, told him that he couldn’t let his mate get snatched away by some other omega, which was completely stupid on his behalf._

_Instead, they had both fallen into a strange relationship ever since, ignoring their basic nature which told them to just snog each other on Sherlock’s sofa, just to reconstruct the order of Omega and Alpha dynamic; to claim each other’s bodies until everyone realized that they belonged to each other and not to any other Alpha or Omega._

_It was possible that out of all the things that had happened between them, that that was what had scared John the most, the sudden attraction he felt to Sherlock. It probably wasn’t even his insane behavior or the rude personality that John hated so much that attracted him. It was most likely the sweet, sweet smell of a virile Alpha and it constantly paraded around in front of him in tight trousers and fitted shirts, loose buttons and open collars that left his firm chest exposed. He didn’t know if it was because Sherlock and he had shared so much space and time throughout the years or if it was just the knowledge that this was his intended mate. Or even worse, that they made some sort of connection when they almost shared his first heat. John didn’t know what it was but suddenly Sherlock Holmes appeared to be the sexiest man to roam the face of the earth and John couldn’t fathom why._

_Either way, John Watson was now eighteen and that mean that he finally had the ability to make decisions for himself. And he would take full advantage of that._

_“What are you planning to do?”_

_John was snapped out of his thoughts by Harry. She was standing in the doorway, a worried expression marring her features, something which was always odd whenever it appeared. Harry was a train wreck and she tended to make everything fall out of her hands. John didn’t know if it was her Alpha nature that drove her crazy or if it was just a natural trait, but she was highly destructive and found her only consolation in booze._

_“Don’t you dare ruin this, Harry!” John quietly hissed, his sister could destroy everything he had worked for; all his plans would come crumbling down and that scared him to death “I can take everything else but not this and you know it.”_

_“Calm down, little brother, I don’t intend to tell our parents that you are about to run away to join the army,” the blonde woman said with a small forced laugh “and I certainly won’t tell them that you’re doing all of this just so you would not have to bond with that ridiculous Alpha of yours.”_

_“That’s not the only reason and you know that very damn well!” he felt unsure of Harry intentions for the first time in his life, she was always so easy to read “I always wanted to be a doctor, I never wanted to be… to be…”_

_“An Omega?” Harry mocked, disgust written plainly over her face “Yeah, I can see how awful it must be…they fucking give you an award just for being born one. They present you with all kind of gifts and stupid compliments, I can feel the pain all the way from over here,” a bitter laugh escaped his sister’s lips, and the distaste for her brother’s words became obvious._

_John made a face and his already tight grip on his backpack became even tighter. Harry was a bitter, over-problematic, short tempered Alpha and it wasn’t a secret from anybody who knew the Watson’s. John held his breath for a moment and then reminded himself that he needed to concentrate on getting out of the house without his parents noticing, nor the maids for that matter. Not that he had to be too careful though, the entire house was sleeping anyways, it was 5 am and an army truck was about to pick him up at any minute now and then he would be free._

_“What will you do? Please tell me you are leaving a damn note, I don’t want to have to explain anything and they will definitely ask,” Harry let her body to slide to the ground with a soft whine._

_“I already did. It’s on the kitchen table.”_

_John gave his sister one last look before going through the door of his room and walking down the stairs. Harry kept her eyes on him the entire way until the small frame of young John Watson reached the wooden door. Before he walked through it, he pulled a small paper from one his pockets and read the text._

 

**"It is the noble intention of the old and respectable Holmes Family to request the young Omega John Watson’s hand in marriage for their young heir, Alpha Sherlock Holmes."**

 

_John Watson closed his eyes as he read the old piece of paper that his parents received when he was a child. He clenched his hand, crumpling the paper, and threw it into into the trash bin before he grabbed his pack once again._ _John inhaled deeply, eyes sad and lips turned down into a frown, and walked out through the door and braced himself; for he knew that his future at this point was now uncertain._

 

 

 

 

_“I told you, Violet; they should have bonded during first heat. Now see what has happened!” Sigerson Holmes paced the hardwood floor of his living room, an incessant rhythm in his long strides; it was rare for the family to see him in such a temper._

_Violet, whom was currently perched in a big white chair in the corner of the room, seemed to not only be worried by the devastating news of John’s getaway, but also by the sight of her angry husband._

_“Darling,” she started “Do you really think that John wouldn’t have escaped even if he was bonded to Sherlock?”_

_Siger turned to look at her, his features less wild, but still rigid and upset by the whole situation. The look on his wife’s face seemed to calm him down when he soon realized he was actually frightening her._

_“No Violet, I do not think so,” he said calmly while his wife’s expression turned to one of confusion. He sighed and started to explain, “I do not think that even John, as young and naïve as he is, would have left if he had had a child with Sherlock. God knows that the boy is impulsive but not reckless.”_

_“So, you aren’t talking about bonding,” It wasn’t a question; it was a statement._

_“You are talking about children. Is that what you wanted, Siger?  A child from Sherlock? He is but a child himself,” Violet rose from her seat, the anger more evident in her expression now than in the Alpha’s._

_“Violet,” the man warned while stepping in closer to his wife “You were sixteen years old when you became pregnant with Sherrinford, it is no different.”_

_Violet came closer to the elegant man, who, for a reason, seemed smaller in front of the strong willed woman who happened to be his wife. Violet wasn’t a woman who prided herself on often defying her beloved husband but her Omega instincts that insisted on protecting her children was bigger than the bond they shared._

_“It is completely different, Siger. Sherlock is not me. He’s not nearly as close to who I was then, not even close to who I am now. He is not ready for that.”_

_“And when would he be then?”_

_“I don’t see you pushing Sherrinford or Mycroft for a child. They are both older than Sherlock and more capable of taking care of a child or a family than him.”_

_Siger threw his head back, his laugh bitter. He walked away from his wife and swept towards the bar that was always so carefully and fully stocked. He grabbed a glass and served himself Cognac. He turned back towards the perplexed Omega and gave her a mocking smile._

_“Sherrinford has a high rank in his position with the M16, Mycroft is working for the government and Quinton is an Omega. So, tell me Violet, why do I do this? Why have I chosen Sherlock?”_

_Violet didn’t reply; she didn’t know what to say. When Siger told her he had applied for an Omega for Sherlock he was only nine years old, she was prepared to complain but then she had seen the picture of John Watson and the young blond Omega took her breath away. Perhaps the only reason for why she had accepted the arrangement for her son so readily after that was because of Sherlock’s condition._

_“Because…Sherlock has a health issue,” she answered, her words felt thick and heavy and she lowered her eyes before raising them back up again “but that doesn’t make sense anymore, the doctors said that with the new medication he will be fine. He doesn’t need to mate, at least not now.”_

_Siger’s sarcastic laugh rang with force in the room. The man sat down on the leather couch right next to the fireplace._

_“Indeed, our son has a health problem that provokes him into an instant rut and I know that the doctors said that it could be fixed with medication. Of course, until he comes of age and things start to go downhill, which it will. This is Sherlock we are talking about after all,” the look that the black haired man directed to the woman was cold “but that is not the reason I did it, darling.”_

_Violet frowned “What do you mean?”_

_“Sherrinford signed a contract in which he could not conceive children or take a mate for at least ten years; they need him to relocate from place to place and a family would only be a burden to him, he has a very dangerous job, he could be killed at any minute if he makes a mistake,” the man mindlessly took a gulp of his drink before continuing “the same applies to Mycroft; he is working with the government in a much more direct approach than Sherrinford but they could both die before they even have any children. I don’t have time to wait for them to get their affairs in order and neither does the Holmes name. It is an old tradition, love, for the Holmes family to produce heirs at a young age in order to prevent the forestallment of the Holmes name’s end. What had happened with my older brother was that he died before his time and he did not ever have children so he left me as the heir and then I found you,” the words seemed so cold coming out of Siger’s mouth but Violet’s expression did not change much, as if she was used to these statements coming from him. As much as the Omega loved the Alpha, she knew that Siger was an insensible, cold, and calculating man._

_“And of course,” Siger added while looking at the amber liquid in his glass, “Quinton is an Omega and even though he is older than Sherlock, his children will not inherit the Holmes name. Quinton had already chosen an Alpha, so it’s no use; Sherlock is my one and only heir at this point.”_

_Violet just stared at him; finally able to understand why Siger was not only upset about John’s escape, but also why he was so insistent about Sherlock taking a mate at such a young age. Even though the woman loved this man deeply, she couldn’t help but to feel a little betrayed by the harsh words._

_“If you think for a minute that Sherlock will listen to you, then I have been mistaken about you this whole time, Siger,” she told him, voice flat and tone cold as she sat in front of him “You are not a brilliant man but a fool.”_

_He just inclined his head to a side with a teasing smile playing on his lips._

_“Let us make a deal then,” Violet proposed._

_“A deal?”_

_“You will never be capable of keeping Sherlock under control and we both know it; the only person that boy will listen to is me,” she lowered her voice into a whisper “I will make him accept the deal; he will bond, marry and produce an heir.”_

_Sigerson’s smile widened into one of mischief and Violet could’ve swore that she could see a glimpse of Sherlock’s naughty behavior when he was in the middle of one of his games, right there, in her husband’s face. For a moment, she felt as if she was about to make a pact with the devil himself._

_“And what is in it for you, love?”_

_Now it was Violet’s turn to smile like a Cheshire cat._

_“There is no other Omega for Sherlock, I know you, love” she mocked and Siger just threw his head back and laughed at the sudden jab “you will try to find another Omega for Sherlock. You like John Watson but now he is gone to God knows where and you will decline the contract to pursue another, and that is not my game, Siger. This is what is going to happen, you let me take control of Sherlock and you let him keep John.”_

_Siger considered the proposal for a long moment; when he had found Violet Bennet, curled outside with her book on the manor’s grounds, right next to the fence that separated their summer houses, he had smelled the sweet scent of Omega heat that emanated from her. Better than that, he could smell the unclaimed and untouched fragrance of a virgin; he just had to have it._

_He had embraced her in his arms and put her on his horse and rode it directly to the Holmes manor. He took her then, right there in his bed. He had made her feel like a woman for the first time, made her moan on the mattress and whimper onto the sheets. Then, just then he saw how beautiful she was; not with make-up covering her face like the society women used to do, not with the elegant clothes covering every part of her delicious skin that exuded a decency that all other women could only hope to fake. No, just like that, while she screamed his name and her entire body was covered in a thin sheen of sweat; she was the first woman that made him feel like a man and an Alpha, even when he had been with so many others countless times before._

_Right then he knew she was perfect and he had bit into her neck, made sure the sweet Omega would be his and only his. He made sure to not give her any other choice but to stay and spend the rest of her life sharing it with him. He had her bonded and pregnant at only sixteen and to this day he regrets nothing. It was with little moments like these that he understood once again, why he had picked her and no other; why they worked so well together._

_“Very well, love. You have yourself a deal,” he smiled as Violet’s tense posture relaxed “John Watson it is.”_

 

 

 

_It has been almost six months for John Watson, hidden Omega, since he had ran away from his home and his old life. He had been enjoying his medicine courses and he could honestly say that he had never wanted anything more than this._

_Every time he enters a classroom, every time he opens a book or listens to a lecture, he feels as if he belongs, even though he had always felt that he never truly did for most of his life. He made friends, real friends, people who he could relate to and talk to all day long about books he had read, the places he would love to visit and the things he would love to do before he died._

_The excitement and thrill of a brand new life was only slightly eclipsed by the knowledge that the Omega System and the Holmes family were probably still looking everywhere for him. He forced himself to be careful with the people he befriended and tried to no talk too much about his old life; the less they knew about that the better._

_No one in the army could know he was actually an Omega, he had bought sufficient illegal suppressants that keep his natural and enticing scent at bay; most people would mistake him for a beta almost right away because the meds took away the sweet attractive smell of an Omega and repressed his hormones, making him unable to go into heat every month, like he normally would. The other “legal” suppressants he used to take, which only the Holmes family was allowed to provide him with, only got rid of the hateful monthly heats but his natural Omega scent was always present no matter what and that surely wouldn’t do._

_In no time he was one the best students in the department of medicine. His professors found him both smart and talented, but the most surprising thing was his dedication and passion for it and John could truly say it was authentic; he had never felt so captivated by something in his life. For a moment, John could say he now understood Sherlock and his insistence on the importance of knowledge pursuit and how deeply the young man was taken in for the love of science and deduction._

_John’s surprise, though, was at the Alphas attentiveness towards him. He had thought that once his natural scent was hidden underneath the dull, normal scent of a beta, the all--annoying attentions of Alphas would eventually go away as well. Who would possibly be interested in a normal common army beta man?_

_For all of John’s strangeness and oddities, the army’s Alphas, who weren’t used to female company any longer, would often try to get themselves off with each other. It seemed that John was actually an attractive fellow even without his Omega smell. He always turned down the proposals of one night stands or just simple handjobs; the Omega in him was proud and satisfied at the proposals though, making him feel not only flattered but also slightly interested._

_After all, as an Omega that suppressed his heats for such a long periods of time, he started to feel strange shivers running down his spine and his lust grew exponentially, making him more receptive to touches and kisses and make out sessions with his mates in the army as well with his classmates in the medical field._

_He was careful to not go further than that, though. He knew that penetrative sex could directly provoke him into a mock heat. Suppressants or not, sex with another beta would have been fine and safe but with an Alpha it was nearly impossible, plus gay beta man were hard to find in the army. As much as everybody liked to bed each other when they were tense and wound up and the need got the best of all of them at times, genuine beta man who were willing to be with another man was uncommon._

_Alphas were more common since they had an overdeveloped sex drive that often pushed them into small short ruts and the need to have intercourse was almost uncontrollable._

_When John had his first sexual experience it was when he was twenty years old and it was with a female beta nurse. They were friends, not the kind of friends that shared secrets or went out for coffee but the kind of friends who would share a few comments over blood tests and laboratory work. She was nice and gentle, with a pretty face and a soft voice and she had a slender body. Her long gorgeous legs would entice him to run his hands over them to touch and feel. For John it had always been like this; being an Omega meant being bisexual._

_He had always had a preference for woman but it was impossible to ignore the need for something inside him and as much as there were female Alphas out there, like his older sister who was capable of perform since female Alphas had a cock as well though theirs was hidden and not so exposed as the males, they were hard to come by. Female Alphas were rare, even rarer than male Omegas, though Omegas were altogether rarer than Alphas as a whole._

_John was terrified to admit that the only man he had been genuinely interested in, even if it was a little bit, was Sherlock Holmes. Most of the time, John would found Sherlock’s behavior insufferable. He would often snap at him and wish he had never met the tall Alpha but even John couldn’t deny that Sherlock was brilliant.  He couldn’t help but to feel excited with his deductions or when he explained how he would figure out something that John for the life of him couldn’t see. Even though he spent half the time hating him, the truth was that the other half of the time, he spent it praising his intelligence._

_The years passed by and John finally became the doctor he had always wanted to be. When he joined the army and was deployed to Afghanistan, he realized the truth about a world completely different from England or London. War was a combination of things for him: he learned to love the danger, the tension of not knowing what would happen after, the thrill of the chase and the adrenaline pumping through his veins. On the other hand, there were those times where he would laugh with some of the soldiers, have a couple of pints from time to time and suddenly, the next thing you knew was that you were covered in blood and that they were dying in your arms. Bleeding out and getting shot at and trying to save their lives but it’s not enough, it’s never enough._

_With that the nightmares appeared; the horrible night terrors that hunt you while you’re sleeping and when you were not. As a doctor, he was ready to attend to any kind of emergency with a cold mentality, as a surgeon he was ready to perform even on the dirtiest cot he could find; in the middle of the woods if that was what it would take._

_But that did not mean that he was ready for what would happen later on._

_He was in the middle of a mission. When John was promoted Captain it also meant bigger responsibilities and he was able to participate and ride along during dangerous missions like any other soldier and not just wait in the back or inside of the truck to attend the wounds of the men who were hurt._

_It wasn’t the first time he had come along, God, it wasn’t even close to the first time, when he had actively participated in one mission, and had killed men._

_But everything had happened too fast and he could hardly remember it. It was the middle of the night and as the desert can be hot and calm during the daylight it could also be cruel and cold during the nights. He was holding his gun way too tightly and walking slowly to the middle of the prairie, the weed was high enough that it almost reached his chest and he was being careful to not be seen. They knew the whole place was a danger zone, there were warnings of snipers and rebels all over the area but they needed to get the job done._

_Everything was going all right, until they heard a shot from behind them and a group of rebels ran in, wild and ready to kill and they started shooting. John, even though he was a soldier and wanted to be part of the fight, knew better than that; he was a doctor first and foremost and he needed to attend the wounds of the fallen man before he could pick any fights of his own._

_So he threw himself to the ground, hidden from the rebels’ view and started mending a bleeding soldier who was coughing up blood and gasping for small breaths. It was right then that an explosion broke through. This wasn’t only a danger zone; this was a minefield. He grabbed the dying soldier and put him on his back. He knew better than to run around like a fool, risking stepping on a bomb and blowing himself to death but he couldn’t stay where he was, not with the Afghani men trying to blow holes into his body and his men. He ran then, remembering the exact way he had come through, so he was sure that he was safe of the bombs and the shots as well._

_As he rushed through the undergrowth and the wilderness, he looked for the safest place he could find and started attending to the wounds of the dying soldier._

_His name was Evan, he was two years younger than John and they weren’t really friends but they had met about a year ago and barely talked. Evan was from Wales though his mother was American; all he knew about the man was that he was loyal, noble and always up for a good laugh. They were always on different missions so their paths rarely crossed but when they did; it was always a good time._

_John succeeded on attending to the wound and managed to stop the bleeding just in time. He smiled at the young man who could finally now breathe properly but before John could carry him back to the truck, he felt the most agonizing pain he had ever felt in his life._

_There was a sick burn in his left shoulder; the impact was so intense that it pushed him forward until he fell, face first, to the ground. He could taste the cold dirt in his mouth and he grit his teeth as he pulled his hand back to touch his neck and shoulder. When he raised his arm he saw the dark red stain of blood and he suddenly felt light-headed at the realization. He didn’t know what had happened, didn’t know what to do. His body felt hot and the pain was so intense that his vision was turning fuzzy and black around the edges. The last thing he could remember was a shout and someone calling his name in the distance._

_Please God, let me live._

 

 

 

 

“Sherlock,” the distinct sound of his mother’s voice shook him out of his daydreaming “may I speak with you?”

It always surprised Sherlock how his mother was capable of being so considerate with him all the time; his father and brothers always barged into his room whenever they needed him or just wanted to have a word. They never asked or cared if he was busy or even in the mood to talk at all, but his mother, sweet Violet Holmes, always knocked and asked first before doing anything else.

“If you must,” Sherlock answered while looking away from his microscope.

“It is about John.”

Sherlock took a deep breath before letting go of his precious experiment. He should have seen this coming from miles away; his parents had a talk; so far so obvious, the soft and condescending tone in his mother’s voice pointed everything out. She rarely bothered him for anything other than for asking things that his father wasn’t capable of asking himself, at least nicely enough. Or if it wasn’t for that, then she usually just wanted to have a proper chat, since he wasn’t the type of son that went around talking about his adventures to his parents.

“I know that you have just finished university and that you now have a stable job at Barts and though it isn’t what your father expected from you it is what you want so we decide to respect it.”

“You may also add that you managed to convince father to let me study chemistry and to do as I like with my life because I agreed to bond and have an heir with my Omega as soon as you could find him,” the brunette turned in his seat to look at his mother’s frame standing in the doorway, a worried look on her face “Though at this rate I should say I am quite impressed with John, he has managed to keep himself hidden even though the Omega System and the Holmes family has been chasing him for years now. I believe that I may have underestimated him.”

“Don’t you worry about that, son,” the woman said as she walked into the room to take a seat on Sherlock’s sofa. The woman stayed silent for a while, observing the living room of 221B Baker Street, the current residency of her youngest son.

Sherlock turned back to his microscope with a smug smile, as if he knew that the woman had nothing left to say on the matter. He was about to change a Petri dish when his mother spoke again.

“He has finally been found.”

Sherlock turned back to face her, eyes wide and jaw slack in surprise.

 

 

 

 

_It has been nine years since John had ran away from the safety of his home, sneaking out early in the morning while his parents were sleeping. The independent Omega finally proved the truth in his words and had found a way out by his own hand. Sherlock would be lying if he said that he wasn’t impressed with John Watson; he had seen the exasperated look on his father’s face and it was glorious. Now he was just thankful to John for providing him with the sweet sight of, for once in his entire life, his father’s plans going straight into the rubbish bin, where they have always belonged. Mycroft, on the other hand, took it upon himself to erase the smug smile that tugged at Sherlock’s lips, informing him that even if John Watson had ran away; their father would just find another willing Omega to bond him with._

_It wasn’t that he was hopelessly in love with Watson or that he was genuinely interested in the blond but throughout the years he had started to get to know him better and he even managed to settle himself with all the little details that made up John Hamish Watson_ _. It was_ _the way that he grinned when Sherlock made a casual deduction on one of the butlers or the maids and how he used to call him “brilliant” after each one, it was how he rolled his eyes when the brunette was being particularly insufferable or the enticing smell that only he could ever possess. He loved to breathe him in._

_Most of the time, when John wasn’t looking or paying any attention, he would flare his nostrils and just breathe in. The delicious scent of a prime Omega filling his lungs until it was the only thing he could smell; it was like a drug and he clutched at it enthusiastically, always greedy for more._

_Every time he walked into the room, or fixed his jacket or his shirt, even when he leaned in closer to Sherlock, the dark haired man felt like he was going crazy with lust. His Alpha instincts that screamed at him to take, claim and bond were too strong and almost unbearable. It was intolerable to the point that even on one occasion he had to stop himself before he could recklessly take John, who was turned away from him then, by the shoulders and turn him around and kiss him as if he were a man dying of thirst and John was his water. The worst and best part of the whole mess was that John was completely oblivious to the attention that was directed solely on him._

_When John had disappeared, a part of Sherlock was disappointed. He wouldn´t be able to smell that delicious enticing Omega scent that belonged only to John and there was another part of Sherlock that was happy because he was free of the tedious bonding and future matrimonial mess._

_Sherlock got older and when he was about to go to university at Oxford, his mother had informed him why his father hadn’t applied for a new Omega for him. She told him about the so called deal she had made and how he had to commit to it as well if he wanted to be allowed to study Chemistry._

_He did._

_He accepted the ridiculous arrangement just like he had accepted most things his entire life. Being a Holmes was supposed to be an advantage but it felt more like a golden cage; he was locked in half the time, with people demanding and expecting miracles from him, controlling every move he made, judging ever mistake he ever committed and tidying him up with old mindless traditions that he simply never tolerated._

_It was at university when everything had gone downhill for him. He was mocked daily, hardly anything new, but because he was living alone at Oxford and wasn’t under the protection of his parent’s presence or name, the bullies became even more vicious. He had tried to ignore them like he had always done; but the beatings, the jokes and the shoving in the halls just got the best of him. He knew what everybody else thought of him, of his deductions, and he knew that it was easier to call him a freak than a proper genius. He knew all of that but it still got to him._

_The drugs however...the drugs weren’t the only result of the abuse or the insults; he wasn’t that childish. It was more of a combination of things. Of course, the hurting and the bullies were still a factor but it was also mostly boredom. His entire life, professors often told him that there would come a day when he wouldn’t be able to deduce something so easily, that his intelligence would be truly tested; he would be challenged._

_He had expected it in primary school; he expected it once again in secondary and preparatory school and once more in university. It was supposed to be different, difficult and thrilling…but it was just so dreadfully dull. His professors were fools, his classmates were all idiots and the community of the so called “great” Oxford could not be more tedious._

_The drugs dulled his senses, his always overactive brain that seemed to spill information out of his head. Sometimes he just wanted to shut everything off and not to think but it was impossible. The current of information could only be silenced with drugs._

_But then hell broke loose in the middle of a chemistry lecture._

_He was doing practice work for the course when he had felt an odd sensation in his stomach; he didn’t pay it much attention because he had thought it was probably just the absence of food since he hadn’t eaten in a couple of days._

_“I will feed myself the minute I am finished with this”, he thought. But the feeling grew until it became a fire that didn’t actually burn but sent chills down his spine until his skin felt like it was crawling. All of a sudden, his senses heightened and everything became too much. The lights in the room were too bright and the voices of the people around him were all too high; it hurt his ears and there was an incessant buzz in his eardrums. It was similar to being high, just in a less pleasure way, it didn’t feel relaxing or like scratching the bare surface of the sky like he always felt when he was toked. This was annoying and painful. Sherlock finally understood what was happening with him when he begun to see double and the smell of the few Alphas in the room made him react._

_He was going into a rut._

_Sherlock has had a special medical condition since he was a child. His control over his hormones was lost and it initiated his presenting as an Alpha a lot earlier than was expected. The ruts differed from Omega heats but were still similar in so many other ways: his senses were heightened, especially his sense of smell since the whole point of the rut was to find a compatible Omega mate. Alphas grew violent during the process while Omegas became submissive. Sherlock’s condition affected him so much that he would have to be locked into a room while being injected with a sedative that would calm him down and ease his aggressiveness. Alphas were naturally blessed with abnormal strength, so only Alphas doctor could treat him._

_Once he had realized what was wrong with him, he almost dropped the Petri dish and the funnel he was holding. He muttered some pathetic excuse to the professor and rushed out of the classroom as quickly as he could. The only reason he had to ever thank his Alpha nature and body was his “dangerous strength”; it also made him run faster than any other Beta, not to mention Omegas, so he reached the students’ apartments in almost no time. He thanked whatever deity there was for allowing his flat be so close to the chemistry department of the university._

_He walked into his room and closed it with a bang before securing it. Sherlock quickly took his clothes off, almost tearing the fine fabric and the buttons of his shirt. Once he was completely naked he threw himself onto the bed and started shaking; he was almost afraid, he felt as if he were about to burst._

_There, next to his bed and on the small night table was the small collection of pills he saved for unexpected accidents like these. He reached out and with a shaking arm and managed to grab one of the bottles and looked at it with confused eyes._

_Oh, God._

_Stupid, so stupid, Sherlock thought._

_He must’ve been so high that he must’ve forgotten to take his daily dose, as he usually did. Though, as irresponsible as Sherlock was, he wasn’t one to often forget about his need for the prescription but his mind was so overwhelmed with the impressions of the rut that he couldn’t think straight or even remember the last dose he had taken. Before he could figure out what was wrong it was too and he lost consciousness._

_When he woke up, he could smell the distinct scent of Mycroft Holmes. He turned to see his brother seated comfortably on one of the armchairs while holding a cup of tea in his hands, biscuits laid out in front of him._

_“What the bloody hell are you doing here?” Sherlock growled while trying to get up from the bed._

_“Careful, not so fast,” Mycroft warned “Your head must be killing you at this rate, and you can’t stand on your feet yet. It has only been three days, after all.”_

_Sherlock frowned._

_Three days?_

_“The…the test…” the brunette could only mumble while holding his head in one hand. As Mycroft had predicted, his head was indeed killing him._

_“Don’t worry for such inane nonsense; your professor will be glad to let you make it up once you properly recover.”_

_“I just skipped a few doses. I’m not doing it again.”_

_“No, you didn’t.”_

_Sherlock opened his eyes and raised his head, looking at Mycroft as if the older sibling had just gone insane. The long silence in the room, which was only accompanied by the raspy breaths of the blue-eyed Holmes, left it clear to him that his brother indeed was not playing any games._

_“There is no other explanation, Mycroft.”_

_“Because you are too childish and irresponsible to keep a chart of the doses you take on a daily basis, I took the liberty of doing it for you; I’ve been keeping a close eye on you.”_

_“Spying, as you always do then,” Sherlock interrupted with disdain._

_Mycroft only rolled his eyes and ignored him._

_“The thing is…you didn’t miss your doses, it seems that even high as a kite you still don’t wish to fall into a rut.”_

_Sherlock looked lost for a moment, still struggling to digest his brother’s words. Though he didn’t remember any of it, he at least knew that Mycroft wasn’t lying; his brother was dubious at best but not about Sherlock’s condition, so he knew that he could be trusted for now._

_“It doesn’t make any sense then,” the blue-eyed Alpha reminded the older man “I’m not supposed to go into a rut if I’m taking the bloody pills.”_

_“I am afraid we both know the answer to that issue,” Mycroft said with a sigh, his voice soft but firm._

_Sherlock’s head snapped up so quickly that he almost broke his neck, his eyes went wide with fear and terror and Mycroft was standing in front of him, face pale and serious and that said more to him than a thousand words ever could._

_“It can’t…It is not…” Sherlock stuttered, unable to form complete sentences._

_“It can and it is,” Mycroft confirmed “You are taking the pills but they are not working anymore.”_

_Sherlock ran his hand over his face and looked up at the ceiling, hoping for clarity. The last of the throes of the rut and the sedative that his brother’s minions injected into his body were making it impossible to concentrate as he usually did._

_“What do we do, then?” Sherlock asked in a small voice, and the tone was so foreign to Mycroft that it took him a few minutes to fully process the question._

_“You know what you should do.”_

_“No!”_

_“Sherlock…”_

_“I said no,” the young man jumped out of his bed and started pacing the room like a mad man, overturned palm resting on his forehead “There has to be another medication that I can take. Drugs, I don’t know, anything, everything, whichever.”_

_“There isn’t,” Mycroft told him, voice stern “Not even a possibility; you need to get an Omega, that is the only solution. Do you even know what happens to Alphas who go into ruts like yours? They break. Your mind, your pride, is going to slowly break. It will start with headaches, abdominal pain, and respiratory difficulties and then you will start to forget things, until you can’t think anymore. Is that what you want?”_

_Sherlock took a deep breath, trying to control his fear and looked at his brother as if it was the first time he had seen him in his life._

_“John is not here…we didn’t want to bond anyway,” the black haired man stood up, an exasperated scowl on his face “And before you even open your mouth, I don’t want an Omega but if I had to choose… then it would be John. Only ever John.”_

_“He is in the army.”_

_Sherlock’s face fell into an odd expression of surprise and amazement and was quickly replaced with anger._

_“You knew the whole time. Father and mother asked you to look for him, find him so they could capture him and bring him back to me, so we could bond…” Mycroft didn’t reply to the accusation and lowered his eyes to the floor “Why didn’t you tell them?”_

_“Because as strange as it is, I actually like John Watson,” the ginger assured “we became friends and he told me that he wanted to be a doctor. The only way he could ever achieve that was through the army… I wouldn’t deprive him of that.”_

_Sherlock raised a mocking eyebrow._

_“Sentiment, Mycroft?”_

_Mycroft sighed and looked away before looking back to meet Sherlock’s eyes._

_“As pathetic as that is, yes,” Mycroft said in a huff “but as much as I liked him, I like you more. You are my brother and if I have to choose, I will choose you a thousand times over.”_

_Sherlock looked at him, surprised and embarrassed, not knowing what to do with the sudden information._

_“You say the words, Sherlock,” Mycroft told him, Sherlock sat back down on the bed and Mycroft bent at the knees to look at Sherlock in the face fully “And I will bring him back to you.”_

_Sherlock only sighed._

 

John Watson woke up in a foreign place; he was looking up at a white ceiling. He sat up slightly and looked around the room; he quickly recognized it as Sherlock’s old bedroom. It was still posh and elegant but there were a couple of differences. There were more books than he remembered ever seeing and it was clean for a change. The drapes that hung over the windows were different; these ones weren’t so thick but were instead lighter and the sun peeked through it delicately.

John would have kept looking around, trying to figure out what had changed and what had not, but the familiar ache in his stomach that he used to be so familiar with, hit him with sudden force. He threw himself onto the pillows and he pulled the soft fabric of the duvets off of his burning body. He ached and his grip on the sheets was so tight that he thought he would rip them.

Oh, that awful emptiness inside him came back to him like it did the very first time. He had sworn then that he would never allow himself to feel this ever again; it tore at him, ripping him apart and it consumed him like a fire.

The need.

The need was amazing, taking every coherent thought out of his head and replacing them with only lustful desires and making him desperately crave touch. The first thing he noticed then was the smell. That wonderful sweet scent that he dreamed about often while he grew up and while he was in the army; the only thing he had truly missed about his old life. He looked up to see the beautiful and ever graceful Sherlock Holmes standing in front of the bed with wild eyes, reminiscent of the last time that he was in heat; scenting, breathing in the pure Omega smell that could only ever belong to John Watson.

“Sherlock…” he breathed out.

“John…” he growled before all hell broke loose.

 

 

 

 

\-----------------------o-----------------------

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To smut or not to smut that is the question.  
> I will let you vote if you rather than Sherlock and John share John´s heat the next chapter or you rather for them to wait. Also if you like them bonding right away.  
> Please gave me your opinion on the matter in the comments :)
> 
> Sorry I just edited the chapter ´cause I noted some things got messed up when I transcribed them here, now the timeline it´s a little more understandable :)


	3. Misery Loves Company

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> To Bond... or not to Bond?

The next thing John felt after realizing that he was sharing the room with the beautiful and wonderful Alpha Sherlock Holmes was the pressure of the detective’s warm body embracing his. If it wasn’t for the massive need he felt inside and the burning fire that itched within his tan skin he would have snapped at the tall Alpha and pushed him away with strong arms and the whole force of an army doctor.

Sherlock started with licking his neck, and John knew that the brunette had a clever mouth for pleasuring an Omega, as much as he had clever hands while playing the violin. Sherlock’s tongue, hot and wet, touched every trace of his skin, following down until it found his chest, exposed and firm. John couldn´t help but to throw his head back, hitting the plush pillows, a miserable whine escaping his pink lips. One of his hands reached up, without his control, until his fingers intertwined with the thick curls of his soon to be lover, feeling the incredible texture of it; John lowed his head until his nose was buried between the perfectly impossible hair of Sherlock, and smelled the musky scent of it.

Oh, it was so delicious.

He smelled of shampoo with a hint of tobacco and a faint touch of cinnamon; all of that combined with Sherlock´s natural Alpha smell. It was enticing, delicious and impossible to ignore at this rate. John bit his lower lip; he was impossibly hard beneath the white sheet.

Sherlock’s hand traveled down his chest until it grabbed at the fabric, disgusted and furious, because how dare it be covering such an exquisite dessert? How dare it hide the perfect specimen that it is John Watson, from him? Sherlock almost ripped it apart out of fury. It was only the small moan escaping John’s lips that reminded Sherlock of his duty and the desperate craving and need that his mate felt. The Alpha responded with an apologetic look and a small lick on John’s neck.

  
John spread his legs beneath the sheets, provoking the Alpha into taking off what was left of the sheets to uncover him. Sherlock understood his silent plea and with a flick of his hand, he quickly took his clothes off, abandoning them beside their sweaty bodies.

John was beautiful, Sherlock quietly observed.

His body glowed from the heat and the daily sun from his army days, he was tanned on his arms and face but his chest and legs were paler. It reminded him of the younger boy who used to wear too many jumpers.

Stupid, Sherlock thought, how someone who was so utterly glorious and beautiful could hide beneath such ridiculous clothes? Oh, but Sherlock would show him.

He would show him that he didn’t need to hide beneath terrible clothing. He would prove to his mate how bloody gorgeous he really was.

Then the brunette eagerly allowed his eyes to look down further, and there, proudly stood John’s manhood. It was erect and red and it pulsed, full of blood; ready to be played, sucked and touched. And Sherlock would gladly deliver such needed attention.

He moved down John’s body and bowed his head at John’s groin, until his nose met by the short blond curls of John’s wiry pubic hair. He breathed in, letting the musky scent embrace his being, let it fill his lungs, and the wet, intimate, warm perfume of the Omega was all he could remember and could smell right then.

His hands grabbed both sides of John’s hips to bring them up it a bit until his face was fully covered by John’s intimate hair and hard cock. John moaned loudly in surprise while one of his hands grabbed at the pillow behind him and his legs kicked out desperately. The Alpha grinned, satisfied with the reaction, and stretched his arms up until they reached John’s abs - product of the hard working of the royal army. His slender pale fingers traced the shapes of hard muscle and soft skin; while he allowed himself to indulge and explore the actual scent he had been completely obsessed with all those years.

The scent of John Watson.

There, where John was exposed, where the taste was the most succulent and the smell was the strongest.

He started gently licking at the area around John’s cock, not touching, just enough to drive the young soldier crazy with need.

Oh and how the blond man needed.

John slightly jumped from his position to shout his pleasure at Sherlock who was busy lapping the most sensitive area, playing him expertly almost as if he was his violin or his piano. Sherlock was making him prisoner to the pleasure that would quickly build up inside him and was ready to explode. But Sherlock always stopped before he reached his climax, always brought him back just when he was about to touch the sky, not allowing him to come.   
The man could be God or the devil himself.

John, impatient and desperate, made a bold move for the sake of tempting the little control that Sherlock was holding over him. He raised both of his legs and crossed them around the back of the head of his intended, locking him in place and raised his hips, making his cock slide between the smooth curls on Sherlock´s head. Sherlock twitched, surprised, with wide eyes and full lips completely covered in the sweet secretions of John.

When did John learn to do something completely and utterly sexy? He had never seen anything like it and he had fooled around with Betas, Omegas and Alphas all the same.

He could see that John was enjoying himself in that position, snapping his hips and allowing the soft friction that his curls gave directed pleasure to his Omega prick. Sherlock grinned with childish glee as he raised his right hand and brought the blond’s dick into his mouth. He wrapped his lips around the prick, smaller than his but still impressive in its girth, and wasted no time as he started bobbing up and down on it, enjoying the taste and satisfied with proving that John’s taste was even better than his irresistible smell. John screamed and held his hands on Sherlock’s head, caressing his black hair. Sherlock took it as a sign of enjoyment and continue his ministrations with gusto.

“Oh, Sherlock…” John moaned, unable to hold himself back, while his face twisted , his expression in a combination of pleasure and pain: pain for the glorious attention that was sweet enough to getting him close to the edge but not good enough to throw him into the precipice. It was the sweetest of torture.

Sherlock sped up at hearing his Omega’s call.

The Alpha inside him growled his approval.

The pale hands of the detective rose up slightly underneath until they covered the Omega’s plush backside completely and elevated his body, allowing his mouth to take everything that John’s cock had to offer without actually gagging. The tip of his tongue twisted around John’s length and played with the soft skin, making the soldier whimper with need and moaning louder, asking for more while gasping Sherlock´s name over and over again.

Soon enough, Sherlock felt John’s balls, hard and heavy with his own seed, ready to spill his pleasure. With a small grin Sherlock sped up his pace; licking, kissing and gently nipping every trace of the delicious intimate skin of the Omega, who could only chant his name over and over again, moaning and aching for release. With a final and hard bite at the inside of his thigh, John came undone.

“SHERLOCK!”

The final scream of the young soldier when he came, stronger than he had ever came in his entire life, was probably heard inside the whole mansion but John couldn’t care less about who had heard their loud moans and his incessant pleas.

A voice inside his head was telling him that this was it, that this was what he has been looking for his entire life, the only thing that could ever complete him: The perfect Alpha in front of him. Slowly, John started to catch his breath and the clarity that had suddenly hit him, brought right after the amazing orgasm that Sherlock just provide him with, also managed to make him think reasonably again, without the force of the lust that consumed him during the heat.   
And his first rational thought was…Oh no. Oh bloody hell no.

Sherlock was positioning himself, deftly undoing his belt with quick nimble hands, pupils dilated and grey eyes full of hunger, desperate to sink his hard Alpha cock into the sweet heat of the Omega beneath him. John’s calloused and firm hand stopped him by the shoulder, pushing him back a bit to raise his weakened body. The eyes of the soldier shined like wild blue fire, Sherlock didn’t know if it was anger, fear or lust, maybe just a combination of all the three; but the smaller man sat himself up in the bed before the confused form of his soon to be mate.

“We are not doing this.”

It took more than five seconds for him to fully understand what John was saying. A part of him, considerably smaller than the wild Alpha instincts that were taking over him for the moment, knew that John was doing the right thing. They didn’t want this. They haven’t see each other in years, both of them had grown and changed on their own. Hell, John probably had already found somebody else, someone who he actually chosen and who he actually loved. But his inner Alpha, the one who was mostly in control of his body at that very moment, the one who had become irrationally needy by the smell of the man in front of him, the man he had just sucked off ‘till orgasm, wanted more. So much more.

And he wanted it right now.

Sherlock growled in anger, letting the Omega know that he wasn’t happy with his protest. He gently pushed the blond back against the mattress again, trying to regain the control he had lost when his mate dared to disobey him. But John had other ideas. He stood up proudly, defying the taller man in the room, showing him the fire in his eyes. They both growled.

“No,” Sherlock hissed.

“Don’t touch me,” John glared.

The Alpha reacted.

Everything happened so quickly, so suddenly. He forcibly pushed the Omega back into the bed and with one hand he took both of John’s wrists and raised them up over his head. The brunette looked into the eyes of the fierce Omega to give him a warning, to behave.

But as usual, John had other plans. He bucked upwards and the surprise of such a move managed to knock Sherlock into the bed, and John quickly positioned himself above the taller men. He felt the heat rising again, trying to take control of his body and his mind, making him willing to mate, to bond and to be bred and he couldn’t let that happen, at least not until he and Sherlock discussed the matter while in their right minds.

Before Sherlock could get the chance to take John down again, the brave Omega started undoing the tedious and multiple buttons of the purple shirt that the grey eyed Alpha wore. When he was finished with that, he allowed his trembling insecure hands to travel the exposed firm chest of the gorgeous creature he had right in front of him. He enjoyed feeling the soft texture of his naked skin and John couldn’t help but to moan at the mere thought of the contact between them. He wanted to have him inside him so badly but the little conscious common sense that the soldier had left prevailed and avoided such action.

Instead, he contented himself with the contact between his hands and the alabaster chest of his Alpha. He licked his lips before kissing Sherlock’s right nipple, playing with it, and the answer was fast and clear, the pale young man threw his head back, enjoying the attention. The Omega, sensing his mate’s need, started licking his way down, to the place that made Sherlock an Alpha, the place that John, shamelessly and secretly, loved and dreamed of for so many years. With cleverly fast hands, John pulled both Sherlock’s trousers and pants down, until the massively big and fat Alpha cock stood proudly erect, practically vibrating with obvious pleasure.

John licked his lips at the incredibly arousing sight.

Sherlock raised his head, looking into John’s eyes with hunger and impatience, probably waiting for the Omega to impale himself onto his cock. John only gave him a wary look before lowering his head until his lips met with the purplish tip and they opened and covered the huge member. He started sucking in the exact same way that just moments ago Sherlock had done, taking his time, quickly getting used to the salty flavor of the precum and praying to all of the Gods known to mankind to save him from gagging too much.

Sherlock groaned beneath him, ripping the sheets in the exact same way he had done himself. His legs were bent at the knee, each one resting side by side John’s warm body.

One of John’s fingers slipped further down Sherlock’s body, until it found the rim of the detective’s hole. It circled around curiously a couple of times before he pressed it inside without invitation, Sherlock opened his eyes, surprised by the action but couldn’t find it within him to stop; it felt shockingly pleasant. John moaned at the other man’s reaction, eager to take his other hand into his own arse, which he ultimately did, introducing three of his fingers into his throbbing hole, quickly adopting a rough and fast pace. Both, the Alpha’s and Omega’s hips rose in unison and the exchange of moans and names didn’t wait much longer.

“John…” Sherlock groaned “So good, oh, God, don’t stop, this is ah…”

“Mmm,” John just moaned in agreement while taking more and more of Sherlock’s prick into his mouth.

“You beautiful fuck,” the deep baritone of Sherlock was now just chanting either John’s name or a new dirty name to call him instead. “You are the most beautiful thing I’ve ever had.”

John hummed while taking the hand he was using to finger himself with, to start pumping the amazing Alpha cock while sucking just the tip of it. His lubrication was wetting his whole backside, dripping down his thighs and landing onto the white fresh covers of the massive bed.

It reminded him of how empty and in need he really was. But John just decided to continue on with his work, milking Sherlock into the most intense and greatest orgasm he had ever had. John knew that Alphas were hard to please just by fellatio; their bodies were designed to resist insatiable heats with horny Omegas that couldn’t think of anything more than sex for three day straight, so their biology was built for them to last a great length of time and to produce ridiculous amounts of semen to ensure procreation. So the young soldier continued his ministrations instead and sped the pace up while fingering the Alpha and sucking him off and jacking him off with his left hand at the same time.

_Now that’s just bloody impressive sex_ , John thought to himself.

“Oh, I’m close, bloody hell, John…” Sherlock moaned while arching his back.

He was coming.

And came he did. John quickly decided that he was swallowing everything his Alpha wanted to give him, which was known to be an awful lot. Alphas tended to produce massive amounts of semen in comparison to Omegas and even Betas, to assure reproduction while having sex. The salty taste was a little bit of a surprise for the blond soldier but he was able to luckily take it all, spurt after spurt of the true essence of his mate. Sherlock meanwhile was caressing the Omega’s hair, petting and encouraging him to take every last drop of his come. He could swear it was the sexiest view he had ever seen; John milking his cock while swallowing all of his come.

But the Alpha inside him reminded him of his duty. He had to take the Omega, make him completely his, bond with him so he knew who he truly belonged to, so every other Alpha and pathetic Beta could see that John Watson was taken and that that somebody was Sherlock Holmes; the only Alpha that was worthy of touching him and breeding him.

They would have wonderful pups. They would be brilliant and beautiful; boys and girls. They could have blond curls or black straight locks, and grey stormy eyes or deep blue ones, pale skin or the fair white of John’s skin. Either way, they’d turn up to be beautiful Alphas or Omegas, with the wild, curious and intense personality of Sherlock or the kind, gentle and protective personality of John; they would be perfect.

But before the Alpha could grab his Omega and take him from behind, the young man reached for him and started to lap his face, over every single feature of his. It was usual for Omegas to do this; it was a prime instinct tool of protection. The Omega was tired, was asking him for a rest before continuing, and as much as Sherlock hated to admit it, the powerful orgasm he had just had taken its toll. He felt tired and loose, and he could use a good long nap. So he kissed the Omega’s forehead instead to calm him down, to let him know that his pleas had been heard and that he would comply this time.

Sherlock licked back, caressing John’s golden hair before kissing the Omega’s face and neck carefully, before holding each other and falling into a deep peaceful dream.

 

 

 

 

 

The next three days they spent them fingering, licking, touching and sucking each other off. Sherlock’s powerful Alpha scent stuck into John’s skin, marking him as his Omega, the brunette felt protective, possessive and proud all at the same time, letting others know that this Omega was taken. John, as needy as he was, stopped the tall Alpha every single time he tried to penetrate him or bite him on his gland. John natural free will always fought back against instinct, which screamed at him to just give himself up to the perfect specimen of Alpha he had in front of him. But his rational mind refused, ignoring the call of nature and backing Sherlock off even when his mate turned aggressive.

But it seemed that Sherlock understood his reluctance to bond and breed. With careful and delicate touches here and there, John turned off the violent and feral nature of the slightly older man. The blond gently kissed the lids of his eyes every time the brunette growled angrily, ran his hand down his arms when he felt the other turned restless and kissed his lips and chest when the man was desperate. His Omega scent calmed the Alpha and trapped him in a slow dance of love making and deep looks into each other’s eyes. John would be damned if he said that it wasn’t perfect.

_Simply perfect._

 

 

 

 

 

John woke up first. His bones felt heavy and his muscles were sore and his back cracked with every new movement that he made. He was sitting on his spot when he turned his head back over his shoulder to look at the sleeping form of Sherlock Holmes. The brilliant man looked so peaceful and innocent in that form that the soldier couldn’t help it but to gaze a little and smile because of it.

John dragged his legs over the edge of the bed to stand up, feeling how weak and shaky they were but he still managed to stand up straight and walk into the bathroom. He looked at his body on the crystal of the huge and fancy bathroom glass. His arms had the dark bruises of hands and fingers that gripped him so hard that they even lasted for the three days of heat, his neck, his chest and thighs were all covered with bites and love marks and he was still covered in dry semen and sweat but overall the rough marks and mess he could still smell the strong and delicious scent of Sherlock all over his skin.

He was ashamed to accept it but he loved the smell, he loved the way it lingered on every part of him and he knew that even if he took a long shower, some of it would stay and follow him the entire day like the finest perfume. With a last look he confirmed that there was no bond bite on his gland at the right side of his neck.

“ _What if I had just let him bite me?_ ” John thought for a minute, touching the exposed skin of the gland.

Before he could think of anything else, his eyes traveled until they settled on his left shoulder. There was the bullet wound and it still was fresh and very much visible. The tender skin around it was wrinkled and pink; starting the healing process just like it should but it would always remain and it would make an ugly scar. John didn´t have any idea how he hadn’t notice it before, when he was recently shot it was all he could see, but during the heat he didn´t feel the twitching pain he always felt when he moved his arm more than he should. John was sure that during that three long days of love making with Sherlock, it was wild and rough enough to hurt him, maybe even open the stitches a bit, but all he remembered of the past three days was the never ending pleasure and the smell of hot heat sex.

He focused his attention on the damaged piece of flesh once again, almost like his attention was attracted to it like a magnet; he was so obsessed with the injury that he was even self-conscious about it, swearing that no other man or women would find him attractive. But there he was, mysteriously going into heat in the Holmes manor inside his promised mate’s bedroom. He could swear that just a couple days ago he was being deported from Afghanistan.   
John just sighed before stepping into the shower and turned on the water.

 

 

 

 

  
“I see you have cleaned yourself.”

The sweet feminine voice of Violet Holmes could be heard within the room. John turned, surprise by the sight. Violet didn´t even seem to have aged, not even a single year. She was there, still young and beautiful. The woman was as thin and precious as he remembered her, wearing a knee length white dress with a metallic belt, a golden necklace and a pair of golden high heels; she kept her long brown hair half held back and half loose, making her look even more younger than she already looked.

John noted that she was also wearing her best asset: her smile.

“Yes. It has been a long time hasn’t it, Mrs. Holmes?” John felt so out of place, especially because he ran away years ago just so he didn’t have to marry her son with whom he just had just spent a heat with.

“Violet, please,” she insisted “and indeed it has been. It’s a pleasure to have you back with us; we all missed you so dearly.”

John didn´t know what to say to that so he just smiled awkwardly while he stood on the wooden floor of the living room. When he was finished with his shower he was surprised to find new clean folded clothes over the velvet bench that was in front of the bathroom door. They were of of a soft delicate material, fresh and stylish; they still had the tags hanging from the neck and waistline, respectively. The outfit consisted on a button up white shirt and a fitted navy sweater, grey fitted fancy trousers and navy moccasins.

After putting on the expensive designer clothes, Edward, the Beta butler he had known since he was a child from his constant visits to the Holmes Manor and Summer House (the one who had also knocked him out during his first heat) was there, wearing a kind smile and told him to follow him into the living room he knew way too well.

“You may be wondering what you are doing here or how and when you got here, yes?” the tall women asked while walking out of the room with John following her instinctively.

“Yes, I should think so,” John replied with a slight note of sarcasm. As if his confusion hadn’t already been palpable.

They both entered a warm elegant room. It was made up of polish marble white floor and the tall walls were painted with a navy color and decorated with a fine collection of expensive and originals paints. John realize the place was kind of private living room, there were a couple of sofas and an elegant brown wooden coffee table between them, all in the middle of the fancy room. Above their heads was an old chandelier hanging and sparkling with the light of the sun that trespassed the room, enlightened from a massive window that almost covered a whole wall. Violet gestured for John to take a seat on one of the sofas, while she sat in front of him. A maid, young, couldn’t be much older than John himself, entered the room bringing with her a trey with tea and biscuits, which John was grateful for. He hasn’t be this hungry since his lost days on the Afghani desert, were the food was more a luxury than a daily thing.

“I’m truly sorry for all the confusion, John,” the soft voice of Violet seem to be full with honest regret and the soldier actually believed her “It must have been dreadful for all that to have happened, especially the way that things are being managed.”

“Yes, all I remember is being deployed, and then I found myself here,” the smile on John´s face was more a formality than a real gesture; though he had to admit that Violet had always been a pleasant guest.

“You were bleeding out in that cot at the desert, terribly wounded while you were in service in the royal army,” Violet stopped to take a delicate sip of the tea before continuing. John twitched when he heard her referring to his days of service, half expecting her to scowl at him over it, but she continued without mentioning it “we’ve being looking for you all these years, but Mycroft and Sherrinford, as always, were the ones to find you when a report that had officiated your state when you got shot, reached their offices. Then they ordered to bring you back.”

John only listened while eating a biscuit. He had a thousand of different questions but he preferred to hear her version before interrupting.

“The medication they gave you and the surgery they performed on your shoulder triggered a heat; Mycroft knew that would happen, especially when the army discovered who you really were. Sherrinford then got to you before the whole terrible thing happen, luckily no Alpha got the chance to touch you without you being willing or conscious of it.”

_But instead I wake up to find Sherlock ready to jump me_ , John thought solemnly.

“We informed Sherlock of your reappearance, though Sherrinford did not tell him that you were currently in heat,” Violet wore an apologetic smile, probably reading his mind like she used to do in the past “yet I cannot see a bond bite on your neck, however you do smell like my son.”

A small pleasant smile crossed the woman’s beautiful face, she had always wanted for John and Sherlock to be together, and John believed that she truly desired them both to be happy. No matter the old traditions, she actually believed they were meant for each other.

“We…” John doubted what to say for a minute, he wasn´t about to tell the mother of Sherlock what they had been up to the last three days “we came to a small agreement of sorts, so to speak. A middle ground between mating and not,” he smiled, more out of embarrassment than for anything else.

The doctor decided that the little smile she threw at him was a good sign.

“I understand just fine, dear.”

“So I guess I’m back to square one, am I not?” it was John´s turn to smile, although this was more out of sadness than happiness.

  
Violet lowered the fine Chinese porcelain cup she had been nursing between her delicate hands and looked at John as if he had just popped into the room out of nowhere.

“My dear, I am sorry for that, but you do have to remember that your family and ours have an agreement and the Omega System won’t take too kindly to your return. They have been looking for you themselves, after all. You broke their rules.”

John swallowed hard. As if he hadn’t already known that, he had been trying to beat around the bush and not approach the subject directly, but he guessed that it had been unnecessary.

“What will they do to me?”

“They would order the family, for my son to breed you immediately, of course. As a punishment, I suppose,” she said with a genuine look of sadness all over her face “Of course, we won’t have any of that.”

John almost choked on a biscuit.

“Pardon me?”

Violet only smiled; pride apparent.

“We are the Holmes family, love. We do not respond to threats; we make them.”

John didn’t know whether to laugh or be scared for the sincerity of that statement. There was no doubt or fear in the voice or posture of Violet, and after all these years without seeing her, John knew she was still the strong force of nature that he met when he was only a child. Always strong, always steady.

The man was glad for that.

“We will keep you here and of course, you are our responsibility and you and Sherlock should get marry as soon as possible. But breeding?” Violet made a face and it suddenly reminded him of Sherlock “I will let you decide that with Sherlock at your own time, of course don’t take too much time, I honestly can’t wait for a grandchild or two.”

John only moved to shake his head on a simple gesture of false denial; the whole situation was hilarious, though it shouldn’t be. Leave it to the Holmes family to make every boring tragedy a romantic comedy.

“Judging by the situation you are in, you are surprisingly taking this too well, my dear,” the brown haired woman said with a sip of her morning tea.  
John only shrugged.

“I woke up confused and a little scared, I’ll admit. But after three days of spending a heat with your son, and a long shower, I had time to digest it all,” John gave her a melancholic grin “and it’s also the heat hormones, they put me at ease after a successful mating, but after a day or two, I will be more stressed out, you just wait and see. It´s textbook.”

She took a long pause before adding:

“Doctor Watson, right?” she teased; John couldn’t help but smile a little before dropping the soft gesture.

“Though I admit I’m quite upset,” John said with a firm voice while looking at the white shiny floor.

The woman raised her eyebrows.

“I ran away for a reason; I wasn’t ready to bond and breed with your son, but I also had dreams for myself. I wanted to be a doctor, to help people. And now I found myself trapped in the life I ran away from in the first place.”

From the look on Lady Holmes face she understood that perfectly. Her long curly hair pooled at her back and the rest dance around her shoulders, making her look stunningly perfect and magical in all the sense of the word. If John could decide himself which kind of woman to get married to, he would surely pick someone like Violet Holmes.

“Remember what I told you about me, I was sixteen years old when I bonded with my own Alpha,” she reminded him, bringing back old memories “I was born and raised in a wealthy family, noble and old, we weren’t exactly of the Holmes family circle but you can only imagine,” she said with calm tenderness “when my parents knew I was an Omega, they taught me all that there was to know about it: being a good wife, a good Omega, childcare, pregnancy, domestic arts. It was tedious but necessary, I suppose,” she looked at John while leaning back a bit before continuing “I was twelve when I discovered a book in the family library. They always controlled what I got to read so I wouldn’t get any crazy ideas inside my head; it was an arquitectonic book, with pictures of museums, churches, castles, buildings and theaters all over the world. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. I became so obsessed with it and I always wanted to see more, to learn more. And I did. I decided that I wanted to be an architect, no matter what.”

John observed her carefully, processing her words.

“Obviously you can imagine how that ended. I paid a maid to bring me more books and manuals in secrecy, so I could study more and more. When I was sixteen the maid gave me one book I had requested. I was afraid my parents would have found me with it so I went out of the house and into the yard, so far away that they couldn´t see me at a distance, behind an apple tree that grew beside the house fence. There, my heat started, while I was reading the bloody book and there is where Sager found me.”

For a minute, the blond could recall the story she told her when he had been fifteen years old, how she had been taken by her husband, how everything had seemed so out of her control and it all made sense now.

“It was almost funny as it was cruel. It was as if I had defied nature and nature decided to put me back in my place, showing me where I belonged.”

John could sense the sadness in her words.

“So you think that this is the way of life telling me to back off?” John said a bit miffed “To put me in my place like it did with you? To just shut up and take it?”  
Violet looked startled for a moment.

“No dear, not at all,” she dismissed the idea with a flap of her hand “All I am saying is that I know what it is like…to dream so big and get so little, and all because of a matter like biology.”

John relaxed, knowing better than to get into a rage when Violet was being so reasonable, considering he had run away and left them all looking like fools to their high society class. He could only imagine the terrible gossip and humiliation that they had to endure because of his rebellious ways from their wealthy peers.

“But you did make your dream come true,” she reminded him “You did become a doctor, you did help people and saved lives, you traveled, you got to see a different life, you even went to war, dear” she gave him a look, one that she matched with a teasing smile, making him smile instantly. “Most of our kind doesn’t get to see any of that, not even in pictures.”

John would admit that he had had his fill, in a way. He loved the danger; he knew he couldn’t just settle down in a typical life of an ordinary Omega and be content. He needed the rush, the adrenaline pumping through his veins, the passion of the chase, he only got that while saving someone’s life or going to war, which he eventually did. But he also knew that he couldn’t go back, not even if he hadn’t been born an Omega. His shoulder was now ruined, he couldn’t perform surgery anymore, he couldn´t even hold a gun and take aim.

He was useless.

“If it makes a difference, I can tell you the rest of the story,” Violet suggested with a passive voice that sounded distant.

“The rest? There’s more?” John inquired, suddenly curious and raising an eyebrow as if doubting that could even be possible. Of course there was more than what Violet had told him but he hadn’t expected for her to share it with him.

“After the bonding, the Holmes’ head family doctor came to check on me, to confirm if I was with child, which I was. When the family had it confirmed they then proceeded to plan the wedding,” the way she was speaking was so casual and that sounded almost as if she didn’t consider it special at all “It had all happened so fast. I didn’t even have time to process any of it. A week after being officially bonded, I was wedded. The worse part of it all was that everybody around me was acting as if it was something beautiful and precious, like it was normal.”

“I was in shock, I ate when they told me to eat, I slept when they told me to sleep, I would have danced if they order that of me as well, I’m sure,” she smiled to ease the bluntness of her words but John saw that the happiness didn’t reach her eyes. “Honestly, it was all a blur; I do not remember any of it. But on the day of my wedding I was beautiful and ready, already carrying an Alpha’s pup and trained to smile and nod at the guests’ compliments on how beautiful I was and how much of a wonderful and perfect match Sager and I made. How could anybody at that party even be assured that we were the perfect match if we did not even know each other?”

She then gave him a look as if understanding that he was almost in the exact same situation. Promised to a man he didn’t know well enough to love but not less enough to despise either; with everybody else around him, including Violet herself, to tell him how good he was for her son.

“The gown was splendid, made by some ridiculous designer of France, specifically designed for me so it complimented my best features, everything they put on me was made to make me look like a porcelain doll, and I did. I looked just perfect, more beautiful than I had ever thought I could look,” she took a deep breath and pierced John’s blue eyes with her grey ones. “But just like that, as if it was all I needed to come to my own senses and break the spell, I was in for the whole bonding, I felt desperate and I panicked, I escape from my own wedding and hid myself in one of the random room of the massive estate.”

“Sager found me in less than twenty minutes, I was in one of the showers, dripping while being sprayed by the warm water, the gown was ruined just like my hair and makeup and I was crying my eyes out,” John wouldn’t admit it out loud but he genuinely felt sorry for her, more than he had ever felt for anybody else, probably because he was going through a version of the same thing.

“I expected him to punish me or at least to scowl me, they always taught me to please my Alpha and to disobey him meant punishment, but instead, he joined me in the shower, hugged me softly, and kissed me until I stopped crying. After that, well…” She gave John a flirty look with a grin “you can imagine what newly wedded couples do half the time.”

John only blushed and Violet laughed, as if she didn’t care that she had just said that.

“All I am trying to say, John,” the serene voice of the women came back to him while her eyes inspected the soldier’s “I had expectations of my mate as well as you do now, and I was wrong… so, give Sherlock the benefit of the doubt, yes?” she winked while taking a last sip of her tea.

John huffed a bit before finishing his own cup of tea. He knew that Violet did have a point. Sherlock and John grew up together, they knew each other, and even though they fought constantly and refused to accept that they actually enjoyed each other’s company, John would be a liar if he said that he didn’t find himself fascinated with the Alpha.

Sherlock was brilliant; he had never met someone so clever and so interesting in his whole life. Yes, he was also a big pain in the arse and he probably should think twice before opening his bloody mouth, but still, John couldn’t help but to smile every time one of his smart deductions left his mouth, or to blush every now and then when he caught a whiff of Sherlock’s natural scent. He couldn’t help but feeling that intense need to undress and bare his throat to this Alpha.

John would be damned if he said he didn’t want Sherlock Holmes.

It was only Violet Holmes’ voice that shook him out of his thoughts.

“And of course, you have to realize something, John dear,” she said with a sad smile.

“And that is?”

“You are not the only one taking the bullet,” she explained “I learned that myself as well. When I was bonded it took me a long time to realize I wasn’t the only one suffering for it. I wasn’t the only whose life got ruined.”

The young doctor only frowned.

“When I bonded I lost my dream, when Sager bonded, he lost his life,” Violet looked at the floor as if it was the most interesting thing in the room “When he was a child he met a girl, her name was Rebecca Adler and they grew up together, attended the same schools and were the greatest of friends that you could possibly ever imagine. The Adlers and the Holmes have been historically old friends and their blood line is as blue and respectable as the Holmes. Sager fell in love with her, of course. She was the most beautiful women that you could imagine, with long blond curly hair and tall like a model and with an angelic face with bright green eyes. She was perfect. Rebecca was also talented in the fine arts; she was a great composer and used to play the viola like nobody else. She also had a kind heart, always traveling to Africa and Asia, helping the children.”

Though Violet should be jealous of her, and John supposed she was in a way, she was also talking about her with admiration and respect.

“But as perfect as she was, there is always something.”

John listened patiently, trying to figure out where she was going with this.

“The Adlers are a long line of Alpha and Omega heirs. As expected, Rebecca’s father was a male Alpha and Rebecca’s mother was a female Omega, but Rebecca herself was born a Beta,” Violet raised her eyes to look at John “What are the chances, John? To be an Alpha and an Omega and give birth to a Beta? Just like being both Beta parents and having an Omega or Alpha child, I suppose,” she waved her hand, though John understood perfectly what she meant.

“Though the Holmes family does not have any prejudice against the Beta class, the tradition of the family states that they must continue a pure bloodline of proud Alphas and high classed Omegas. Rebecca was not eligible for Sager. But he did not care, for once in his life he was willing to not give a bloody thought about his family and do what he always wanted; and that was to have her.”

The blond man swore that he could finally manage to see the spark of jealousy and sadness he was expecting all along; burning in a grey fire inside of Violet’s eyes.

“He bought the ring and set up everything perfectly for the proposal, even when they had not even been in a romantic relationship. A week before he could do anything, he found me behind that tree in the middle of my first heat, and you and I know the rest of that story.”

John only could stare at the graceful woman he had in front of him. She was smiling again, just a little, but still had a distance look on her beautiful face. John couldn’t fathom how this Rebecca Adler could be any more beautiful than Violet Holmes, he just couldn’t conceive the idea of it, and if it was actually true, then the woman had to be an actual goddess. Omegas are meant to be beautiful and delicate in appearance, John himself was of a smaller height than the average, the army changed his old skinny body to a toned athletic figure but still small, and people used to dismiss him easily for it.

The doctor sighed deeply, making his mind up before smiling back to the brown-ginger haired like woman before standing up slowly.

“I think that I have to go back to Sherlock, before he wakes up, that is.”

Violet smiled brightly before nodding at him. John took a step forward before remembering something and took the step back, looking at the quiet woman as she was looking back at him.

“Before leaving…” John started, Violet tilted her head to the side, as a gesture to make him understand she was listening “You said your husband was in love with Rebecca, that his love was so deep he would have left his family behind if that is what it took. But you once told me that you two love each other.”

Violet waited and then nodded.

“Then how come…?” John asked with a frown, completely confused.

The woman only laughed quietly before standing up and entwining her hands together in front of her designer dress.

“Because…misery loves company, John.”

She winked before leaving the room.

 

 

 

 

 

Rays of sunlight, which had escaped through the fine curtains, flooded the bed. Sherlock stirred and awoke, unable to ignore the sunlight any longer. Sherlock’s vision was momentarily blurry, he blinked a few times and allowed his vision to clear up, eyes focused on the white ceiling of his bedroom. He could hear the sound of the birds singing outside, enjoying the soft spring of England. Sherlock was not much for enjoying the Nature’s gifts or the small things in life, or at least not that anybody knew about that, but it relaxed him to know that there was something out there.

Suddenly, the memories of the past three days came to him like a mix of shady blurred pictures. He could remember the intoxicating scent of Omega in estrus, the soft touch of skin against skin, nude and helpless. Everything seemed so hot then. He raised an arm to cover his heavy eyes, half closed, tired and refusing to unfold like they should. He could remember John, spread open in his bed, wanton and needy, asking him for more but at the same time holding him back, careful to not let Sherlock bite him, bond with him or breed him.

He didn’t know how the young Omega actually managed to make it out of the shared heat without getting himself bonded. The Alpha inside Sherlock was wild and careless, Sherlock knew that. When he went into ruts he was like a fierce beast, he was violent and out of control. He was dangerous. Being in a heat meant getting ready to bite. And throughout the years he only grew stronger and more feral.  
  
But John had held him back, something about him, his smell, his face, his personality, something made the Alpha inside him recoil and listen, even when Sherlock himself knew that that was not possible.

Before he could keep on in the same train of thought, a deliberate cough from the opposite side of the room shook him out of his private thoughts. Sherlock raised his head a little, his eyes better focused now, until they could see the strong, clothed and fresh figure of one John Watson, with his arms folded across his chest and his cold eyes staring at his naked form, only covered by a ruined sheet that hid him from his waist to his knees.

“Joh-“

Before Sherlock could continue, the blond shot him a hard look and interrupted him.

“Sherlock, I think we need to talk…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look who is back! I know it took me a while but I’m finally uploading this, late as it is. I´m being very busy, I´m sorry. Anyway, merry Christmas and happy New Year, and also very excited because Sherlock Series 3 is finally here :)
> 
> In this chapter I let to know a little bit of the story between papa and mama Holmes, because it would be relevant in the future, and yes it looks like John has a little crush going on for Violet Holmes hahaha but don´t get scared, it’s nothing harmful or important. 
> 
> I gave you a little bit of smut but I decided to wait for the real deal for them to bond and breed, I think I need more time for them to fall into place before all that. But it will be soon, don´t worry.
> 
> And, in adittion, a big THANK YOU for Extinction, who is my beta for other fic of mine, that edited this chapter since I was unable to reach for my regular beta of this series, both are amazing :)


	4. Fuel to Fire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sherlock and John add Fuel to the Fire....

Sherlock Holmes calmly sat down in an armchair while reading one of the books from the enormous Holmes library; he had been reading in the same position with the same book for almost an hour, but he just couldn’t seem to pay attention to the words of the text. He couldn’t comprehend it, couldn’t seem to find enough concentration to focus in on the words, so with a restless feeling in his stomach and a long sigh he gave up and dropped the book into his lap.

At that very moment, the door of the library opened and the brunette slightly turned his head to spot the sudden imposer in the room.

And there he was, in all his glory, the famous and “perfect” Sherrinford Holmes, the very man that had been Sherlock waiting to see.

“What are you doing here?” Sherlock’s voice sounded angry and his facial expression changed to one of dislike, his lips curled into an unpleasant pout, even though in reality he had been waiting for the brown haired man to make an appearance.

Sherrinford fixed him a confused look and with a small smile.

“Well…I do live here, little brother,” he reminded his younger sibling “God, what is with that rude attitude of yours?”

Sherlock only glared.

“You do not live here. I recall you having a flat in London.”

The browned haired man took a small drinking glass and poured himself French wine from the small bar.

“Yes,” he said, taking a small sip of the dark liquid “that is _my flat_. This is _my home._ ”

The younger alpha huffed at him with disdain, his long arms hung off the sides of the chair he was sitting in. Sherrinford frowned in thought, a spark of curiosity in his grey eyes and started pacing the room while drinking his wine.

“You are quite in a mood today, aren’t you, Sherlock?”

Sherlock rose from his seat and threw the book onto the table that was resting next to him.

If Sherrinford hadn’t known his brother, he would say that the young man was angry, but this was more than that and Sherrinford knew it just too well, it was silly of Sherlock to try to hide it. Mycroft was the brilliant brother, the one who often outsmarted both Sherrinford and Sherlock and even Quinton, who was supposed to be the precious young genius of the family. But it seemed that all the Holmes brothers possessed their own unique brand of intelligence: Mycroft was great at reading people, Sherlock was unmatched in deducing situations and Quinton was talented with all kinds of technical knowledge, but Sherrinford, himself, was the sharpest in manipulation and internal ponderings. And he knew when dear “Sherly” was keeping something from him.

“Do share, Sherlock,” the oldest alpha said.

“You knew…” he started “you knew that John was in heat, or at least that he was entering his heat when you brought me here…”

There it was, the dazed look in his brother’s eyes, looking at him with anger and frustration. He could have denied it, claiming that he knew nothing of the sort but then he would be lying; and as much as he liked to play games with his younger sibling, he was not really in the mood for it at the moment. Their mother would have already mentioned something to his little brother, he was sure.

“I knew,” the taller man casually agreed.

“Then why?”

Sherrinford snorted.

“You said it like it is such a big crime. I do recall you two being engaged.”

“That is not the point and you bloody well know it!”

The brothers stared at each other for a moment, analyzing their intentions, reading each other’s minds. Sherrinford turned his attention to the floor and grinned, his hand ran over his handsome face tiredly. Sherlock looked more restless and impatient as the silence persisted with each passing minute, his chest filled with fury and anger. The oldest Alpha could swear he hadn’t seen Sherlock this upset since he was a child.

“There is something else you are not telling me,” Sherlock said, taking a step forward, looking at his brother like it was the first time in his life he had recognized him as such “I can see it, you are not usually like this Sherrinford.”

The other man took a moment to wipe the mocking smile off his face; he raised his eyes from the floor and settled them on the younger figure before him.

“Mycroft wanted to warn you off before taking you to see him…”

“But…?” Sherlock inquired.

“I knew that if you had known about it, there was a chance that you would never have entered that room; I couldn’t take that chance,” Sherrinford was genuinely worried, his usual sardonic smirk was gone, instead there was a rare expression on it, a combination of regret, guilt and pain.

“What do you care If I bond and breed or not with John Watson?” Sherlock inquired with a confused and unpleasant grimace on his face “Your job started and ended with finding him, that is all.”

Sherrinford looked away.

 _‘Ashamed’_ Sherlock deduced ‘ _Ashamed and guilty’._

The brunette would never admit it out loud but it took him a couple of minutes to catch up with his oldest brother’s secret agenda. Sherrinford wasn’t the type of sibling who usually went for betrayal but Sherlock knew exactly who would.

“Oh, I get it now,” the young Alpha declared, tensing his jaw. “Father made you. Obvious.”

“No, you don’t get it, Sherlock,” the Alpha warned “ _I_ need you to bond with John, bloody hell; _I_ need you to breed him.”

Sherlock expression twisted in bewilderment, taking in his brother’s words like a punch to the face.

_Why would Sherrinford be so distressed about the bonding between John and him?_

It was ridiculous. It made sense if this whole ridiculous manipulative circus was his father scheming behind the scenes but Sherrinford was hiding something bigger than that, bigger than their father’s games. His older brother had rarely mentioned anything about Sherlock and John’s bonding in his entire life, not even as a joke. His brother was so much like his father but with a teasing personality that Sherlock never learned to fully like but couldn’t completely despise either.

“When…I have never truly been so close to an Omega, alright?” Sherrinford admitted “I mean, of course, I have been but not in the middle of a heat, at least not intentionally…I have always known what I wanted. I wanted to be in the government, in the MI6 and I am, and I can’t take a wife until I have completed my ten years of service. So, I tried not to be around that kind of situation so I wouldn’t be tempted by these indiscretions, but then…”

Sherlock waited patiently for the rest of Sherrinford’s explanation and incessant rambling to finish when the shameful look of his brother reached his stormy grey eyes.

“When I smelled John’s scent, in the middle of his first heat, it was heavenly… and it was like his body sang to me, I couldn’t avoid it. I can’t let that happen again…and then father suggested that the only way I could possibly stop thinking about it was for you to finally bond with John.”

Sherlock took a couple of minutes to fully understand what his brother was implying.

“You mean that you _like_ my fiancé?” the brunette’s tongue felt odd using the word, _fiancé,_ it was completely foreign for him “You’re telling me you want to fuck my mate?”

Sherrinford breathed out a nervous breath.

“I have been with an Omega in heat before. Just liked when father forced you when you were younger, he did the same with me and with Mycroft…it is an idiotic tradition, you know it well,” the browned haired man admitted “but it was never like that…John’s scent is… something else.”

“So, you do want to fuck my mate?”

Sherrinford threw an annoyed glare at the younger Alpha.

“Do refrain from being so crude with your choice of words, Sherlock. It is most unbecoming.”

“See, that is quite funny, you talking about what is unbecoming,” the young man mocked bitterly “when _you_ are lusting after _your_ soon to be brother-in-law. Now that is “most unbecoming”.”

“If I could control it, I would,” Sherrinford snapped.

“I was under the impression that you actually could,” Sherlock snapped back “You desire the Omega who is supposed to be the future mother of my children and then you pushed me to bond with him after not seeing or knowing anything about him for years…brilliant, Sherrinford, just brilliant.”

“It is not my fault that I imprinted on your mate, Sherlock!”

There was a long silence between the two brothers, only sharing hateful and frustrated glances with each other.

Sherrinford was afraid to admit it out loud, but he was genuinely scared of what his brother would have thought of him. He was being honest when he had said that he couldn’t control it, John’s natural Omega scent was just so _lovely_ and he had already tried his best to not jump his bones once many years ago…he didn’t know if he could do the same now.

Sherlock sighed, upset, and started his way to the door.

“Sick bastards, both of you,” Sherlock whispered to himself before he reached the double doors.

Sherrinford pierced the detective’s back with an icy glare.

“I heard that.”

“You were meant to.”

And with that, Sherlock slammed the door behind him.

 

 

 

 

_“We need to talk, Sherlock.”_

_The Alpha only stared at him with an odd expression and confusion written all over his face. John was leaning against the opposite wall, his arms crossed in front of his chest; the usual neutral but nice features on his face were strained in a twisted facade of calmness. It was easy enough to realize why, once the memories of what they had been up to for three days straight came back to him, like pictures of an old album._

_“Yes,” Sherlock agreed “I think that would be wise.”_

_“Then take a shower and get dressed,” the Omega told him with a firm voice, a part of the Alpha knew that he was probably listening to Captain John H. Watson RAMC of the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers, and not simply John Watson, the kid who used too many ugly jumpers. “I will wait for you in the kitchen.”_

_Sherlock nodded absently._

_In half an hour, Sherlock was clean and ready; he scrubbed his skin until it was red from the friction of the sponge, getting rid of the dry cum and sweat, he examined every inch of his own skin, admiring the traces of what the three days of heat left on his body. He could remember the warm and wet mouth of John traveling his neck until it reached his navel; the soft hands of the Omega, worshipping his figure like it was a blank canvas and as if John’s hands were the brush. The mere thought of those moments sent shivers down his spine. He washed his hair quickly, a mess of dark wet curls. Once he had convinced himself that he was presentable enough, he turned off the shower and dressed himself in his usual attire: fitted black trousers and a blue spring shirt._

_John was waiting for him, as he had promised. He was sitting in one of the elegant chairs, absentmindedly chewing his food. The plate looked almost full. Either John was not really hungry, unlikely, Sherlock immediately corrected, they had just shared a heat without any supplies, they hadn’t stopped to eat, they had barely managed to sleep from the exhaustion and drink enough water every now and then. If John was anything, he would definitely be starving. The other only possibility left was that he was waiting for him so that he could eat properly, which was probably the right idea. Sherlock was famished._

_When the blond man saw the brunette enter the room, his relaxed composure suddenly turned tense and his features became cautious, trying to calculate a possible next move. The Alpha immediately hated the pose, almost as if Sherlock was a threat to John._

_“You wanted to talk,” the detective started, trying to lighten up the tense atmosphere._

_“Yes,” he simply said._

_Sherlock took the seat in front of John. Almost immediately a maid showed up in the room with a silver tray; she quickly started to serve Sherlock without a word, accommodating his English breakfast in front of him and a glass of orange juice and another of crystalline water. Sherlock made a strong effort to not devour everything right away._

_“You don’t seem very hungry,” the detective pointed out to the blond._

_John looked at him with slight surprise and a small shy smile._

_“Oh, yes. Truth be told, this is actually my second plate.”_

_Sherlock smiled without thinking. He was starting to realize that rare expressions from him seemed to come easily when he was around the Omega._

_“Eat as much as you like,” the brunette ginned, pleased “At this rate, I could eat an entire horse.”_

_It was John’s turn to laugh loudly. For a moment, they couldn’t help but feel quite calm and comfortable with each other, like the small moments of peace and joy they shared when they were teenagers._

_“So…” John said first. He stopped his laughter, trying to be a bit more serious, though a small smile still adorned his face “Talking. Yeah.”_

_“Oh, right,” Sherlock remembered._

_John gave him a look, considering his options before actually speaking._

_“I talked with your mother, you know.”_

_Sherlock frowned, not really sure what to think about that. But he thought that he really should not be so surprised, after all, that was his mother’s skill, always mending the messes of the Holmes’ children. It was her Omega nature._

_“She is still quite nice, just as I remembered,” John smiled again, probably thinking about past memories “and she let me in on a few things. How I ended up here in the first place and what is expected of me as well…I heard her out and she listened to me, so the only thing left to do, Sherlock, is to hear you out, which I’m willing to do.”_

_The Alpha didn’t immediately answer him; however it was mostly because shock kept him unable to speak. He was so sure that John would be rightfully upset after the heat passed, he would’ve been furious and as much as Sherlock didn’t really give a damn about what people think of him on a daily basis - which was known to be an awful lot of curses and a vast collection of idle threats - he had suddenly found himself rather preoccupied with what John Watson would think of him. Would he hate him? Like him? Miss him? ...Loathe him? But after all, it seemed like John was willing to give him a chance to help him make that decision._

_Sherlock soon realized that John was probably expecting some kind of response and that brought him out of his thoughts._

_“John…” the brunette man started with his deep baritone voice “I swear to you that I didn’t even have the slightest idea of your condition when I arrived at the estate,” the alpha promised “and when I did eventually realize, it was unfortunately already too late.”_

_John didn’t immediately say anything but he was clearly paying attention to every word Sherlock was saying._

_“I believe you…” John said with a firm voice._

_The young detective had to stop for a minute to process the words, he could see by looking into John’s eyes that the Omega was telling the truth. He actually believed Sherlock._

_“It doesn’t mean that I like this situation, though,” the blond bit out with a petulant sigh. Sherlock almost smiled._

_“Join the club, John.”_

_They both looked at each other in agreement._

_“So, what do we do now? Your family expects us to bond and breed sooner rather than later.”_

_“Father is out to the colonies for some business, he will not be here until the end of the month,” the tone in Sherlock’s voice was sarcastic and suppressed in anger, the same way that John remembered listening to the Alpha speak when they were kids “that give us time to think, at least.”_

_John frowned a little but didn’t say anything about it. Ever since John could recall, Sherlock always referred to the States as “The Colonies”, somewhere along the line of their teenage years the Omega gave up in trying to correct the brunette about it even if they weren’t the colonies anymore. Sherlock was incorrigible in every extent of the word._

_“But that is not the point, Sherlock,” he reminded the Alpha “The bloody point is that eventually you and I will have to bond and breed, so be it in a month or in three, it will have to happen.”_

_The detective snorted._

_“Nothing is written in stone.”_

_John only gave him what Sherlock had started to call “The look”. The look had  “I’m-not-gonna-put-up-with-your-bullshit-Sherlock” written all over his face, and every time the young doctor gave him one of those looks, it sent shivers down his spine._

_“The only reason this is happening is because of a stupid medical condition of mine,” the consulting detective clarified to the blond man “but I have been conducting a few experiments of my own to prove if there’s another way to deal with it.”_

_Suddenly, John leaned back in his chair, surprised by the abrupt revelation coming out of the Alpha’s mouth. He had never heard about any of this and to finally know the truth behind the constant persistence of the Holmes family for him to bond with the Alpha, shocked him._

_“Wait, hang on a second,” John exclaimed with an astonished expression on his face “What do you mean “medical condition”?” the Omega asked while emphasizing the words with a flexing of his fingers._

_Sherlock paused for a minute with a puzzled look and furrowed brows, as if John’s question was unnecessary and stupid._

_“Well, John, I suffer from a condition of hormone overproduction, something that you, being a doctor should know well enough, is a tricky but mostly important, annoying little insufficiency in the thyroid gland. I used to take medication to control it but in the last few years it has become almost uncontrollable, making me feral and overly aggressive. It is a nightmare,” Sherlock spit the last word out like a disgusting curse._

_John’s eyebrows rose up disbelievingly, he had never heard about Sherlock’s condition but now the Holmes’ family insistence on the bonding made sense._

_“And when did you plan to tell me about this?” the blond inquired with his arms crossed over his chest._

_Sherlock snorted._

_“It is none of your business.”_

_“You’re doing it again.”_

_“Doing what?” Sherlock asked with a confused expression while looking at John again. John only narrowed his eyes._

_“That thing that you do when you’re hiding something from me.”_

_“I am not hiding anything from you. Don’t be ridiculous.”_

_John raised an eyebrow, the corner of his lips pulled up into a tight smile, clearly not believing anything Sherlock was saying._

_The Alpha sighed, resigned._

_“You are the one doing that thing again, the one with the eyes, stop it. It is annoying,” the brunette insisted while walking away to lean his back against the nearest wall._

_John, finally giving up, gave an annoyed huff._

_“Fine. Have it your way.” Sherlock only looked back at him as John stood up to walk towards him “So, how can we…fix your condition?”_

_The Alpha took a minute to answer the question, thinking of all the possible solutions and ways he could find to avoid the only answer he has gotten from all the doctors and specialists he had seen._

_“The regular solution is bonding with a compatible Omega. Bonds are a stable ground for Alphas, it helps us to control the natural and feral aggressiveness we are prone to having,” the detective said with an apprehensive look on his face, hating the whole ordeal. “But…”_

_John frowned once again._

_“But what?”_

_“I have another idea.”_

_John stared into Sherlock’s grey eyes, trying to see if he could find a missing clue of something that he, as a doctor, hadn’t thought about yet. Hormonal Overproduction was a rare disorder and it could prove to be very dangerous if not treated in time. If the case was so advanced that even with the normal treatment with pills and continuous medication didn’t work, then it meant that only a steady bonding would do._

_Sherlock sighed without saying anything and looked into John’s eyes and then said:_

_“It is an experiment.”_

“Are you really sure about this?”

John saw down on the massive and comfortable bed. The place, where just three days ago he had passionate sex with the Alpha now staring down at him. He knew that he probably shouldn’t feel so self-conscious after all they did, even when they hadn’t actually finished the mating ritual but the whole situation was just making John nervous.

The blonde doctor couldn’t help but gulp nervously while watching the brunette unfasten his belt with deft fingers, remembering clearly the pale cold fingers that had roamed every inch of his now covered skin. Sherlock stood tall and imposing over him, as gorgeous as a Greek god. For a moment, the young man couldn’t stop asking himself what he had done to deserve someone as beautiful as the detective who, once again, intended on fucking him tonight.

“Just relax, John,” Sherlock reassured him with a husky tone. It sent shivers down John’s spine “We’ve already done this before, remember?”

“Only too well,” John responded with a raised brow.

Sherlock grinned playfully.

“Then it’s settled. Stop thinking too much, it is loud and annoying.”

The doctor hung his head and looked at the floor with a loud snort and a nervous smile played around his pink lips. He would never say it out loud but he was aroused. Aroused by the sight of Sherlock unbuttoning his blue shirt now that he was finished with his belt which laid abandoned on the wooden floor, aroused by the deep baritone voice that seemed to make his mind go blank - all logical reasons to go be damned, and aroused by the sweet musk of the Alpha scent that was already taking over his senses and was bringing forth the lustful desire of an Omega who had just finished his heat.

“Just…be careful, okay?” John warned the Alpha with a stern voice and a wary glance “Remember what I told you. I was shot just a week ago; my shoulder will hurt like a bitch if you push or pull it too hard. During heat, it was different. I was swimming on a pool Oxytocin so I didn’t feel any pain. Now I can, so be careful.”

Sherlock rolled his eyes, impatient.

“Yes, yes, whatever.”

Sherlock then pushed John onto the mattress by the healthy shoulder even though the Omega gave him a murderous look for the sudden action, his hands reached down until they found John’s belt and unfastened it quickly while his plush lips started to devour John’s.

It felt like a consuming fire, burning and incinerating everything along the way, every trace or mark that any other pair of lips before Sherlock’s could have left on John. Now it was only his lips on John. Only him. And it was glorious. The heavy taste of the Alpha was unique and John couldn’t stop himself from responding to the violent ministrations of the brunette.

One of John’s hands found its way into Sherlock’s thick and luscious curls and he pulled at it like his life depended on it, running his fingers through the locks and enjoying its softness. Sherlock’s tongue entered John’s mouth with a moan and started battling with John’s for domination. In that moment, Sherlock had already finished with John’s belt and trousers, pulling them down and tugging at the man’s jumper, insistent and desperate; John broke the kiss to take off the blasted article of clothing, leaving him in only his briefs and quickly recaptured Sherlock’s lips like it was the only thing he had ever wanted.  

One of the Alpha’s hands threw John’s jumper off the bed while the other held him by the hips, all the while without stopping the kiss. The unique smell that has always been John’s scent was imprinted onto the Omega’s clothing and he could remember how it used to drive him crazy when they were younger. The smell that, the Alpha in him reminded him, will never be anybody else’s and definitely not Sherrinford’s, the mere thought of it made him growl possessively into the passionate exchange in anger.

_John was his._

The hand that was busy holding John down slipped into the Omega’s underwear and he took his thick Omega cock in his hand and started to stroke the member of flesh with determination. John broke the kiss to moan and threw his head back; eyes shut and mouth open wide.

“Ah, fuck…!”

Sherlock smiled and leant down to kiss John’s neck and bit at the soft and delicious skin.

“Ah, you…” John whispered “Fuck, yes, like that!”

As much as Sherlock loved to hear the various sounds that he could provoke from his Omega’s mouth, he missed the peachy taste of John’s lips, so he pulled on John’s short blond hair and used it to pull John’s head up and claimed his mouth with one another hungry kiss.

The doctor allowed one of his hands to travel down the detective beautiful body until he reached his trousers. He yanked them down impatiently and pushed his hand inside, cupping his huge cock through his, now, damp briefs.

“Jo-John…oh, God.”

John smirked but before he could do more, the Alpha pushed him further up the mattress and got rid of the rest of his clothing before taking off John’s briefs. They both paused to look at each other in wordless agreement before continuing on in their dance. Sherlock admired the toned body of his Omega, realizing that he had not been able to fully admire it before. The young man gave his silent appreciation for what the army had done to his mate, shaping his muscles and tightening his skin. He was absolutely gorgeous and he was completely his.

John had fallen into the same thoughts, tracing the pale skin and reached for both sides of the Alpha’s hips with both hands. He rose up slightly off of the covers to kiss the red tip of the Sherlock’s hard cock.

“Oh, fuck, John!” Sherlock loudly groaned as he threw his head back, almost hurting himself with the sudden force of the movement. One of his hands caressed John’s hair as the Omega took him into his mouth.

“Yes, yes, just like that…”

John took him further into his mouth, trying to not be nervous at the size of it, and swiped his tongue over the shaft and underside of the sensitive flesh. John closed his eyes but quickly changed his mind and instead raised his blue eyes to look at Sherlock’s face, which was twisted in pleasure. The Alpha felt that he was being watched and opened his eyes to look down at the beautiful figure that was busy sucking his cock. He almost came at the sight.

Their eyes connected and Sherlock moved his hips up while pulling John down by his hair, making him take his entire member, his own lips falling open as small moans escaped his mouth.

“Do you like it, John?” he moaned “Do you like sucking my cock? Do you enjoy tasting my pre-come?”

John only groaned in response, one of his own hands reaching down to grab his neglected Omega dick and started pumping it at the rhythm of Sherlock’s thrusts.

“Oh, are you gagging for it, John? Gagging for _me_?” Sherlock insisted “Are you dying for me to push you onto this bed and fuck you from behind? Hard and fast?”

John’s response was to speed up his ministrations as he began to pump his member faster.

“Oh John, you should have let me breed you while you were in heat…you should have let me put some cubs in you…Oh, ah, like that… don’t worry, love, your next heat, you will take every inch of this beautiful Alpha cock that you are too busy taking into your mouth…I will claim you and get you so pregnant and so swollen that you won’t be able to walk with the size of my litter…”

Sherlock would have kept talking but he felt his balls tighten up, heavy with come and the shivers that traveled down his spine warned him that he was close to the edge. The Alpha thrust harder and faster, almost hurting John with the strength he was applying with the force of fucking John’s face.

John moaned as he felt himself close as well. The silence of the room was only broken by Sherlock’s groans and John’s moans, along with the dirty slurps of John’s mouth over Sherlock’s hard cock. One last coy glance from John and they both came in unison.

“God, John! Ah, yes, yes!” Sherlock yelled while spending himself into John’s mouth.

Seeing Sherlock openly enjoy the pleasure that John was giving him, that he was responsible for, was enough to bring John over the edge as well. John would have screamed his release as well, but he was too busy taking all of his Alpha’s seed, swallowing each spurt, tasting the salty and distinctive flavor of the brunette. As Sherlock rode out the last of his climax, John’s hand pumped his cock at a slow pace, squeezing the flesh and heightening the pleasure that the Alpha already felt.

When the detective was done and his member started to deflate, John pushed himself away and teasingly licked his lips; Sherlock only sighed with a smirk. They both fell over the massive bed covers.

“Well…that was something,” John whispered, suddenly exhausted and sticky with his seed and sweat “…for an experiment, I mean.”

Sherlock chuckled quietly “You can say that again.”

John laughed, voice raspy from so much use “So… do you really think this will help? With your problem?” he said, voice changing into a more somber tone.

Sherlock shrugged tiredly “There are studies about how intercourse with an Omega can reduce the aggressiveness and feral behavior considerably in the Alpha…the percentage of success in hormonal response rises if the mating occurs with an Omega whose scent is familiar to the Alpha,” the detective explained pulling the covers over their sweaty bodies and tossing a flannel to John “I read about it a couple of months ago…it seemed worth the try. There is no way to know yet if has worked at this rate but at least I feel more relaxed, less on edge.”

John didn’t reply and only gave a small smile to the Alpha. They were both weary and the fact that they had spent three days having wild sex and now did it all over again so soon was exhausting and even now they could feel the beginnings of aches and pains.

Before Sherlock could stop himself, he had pressed himself closer to John and his right arm wrapped itself tightly around the Omega’s warm body. For a long minute, Sherlock held still, tense and terrified of what the blond’s reaction would be but the doctor didn’t flinch or push him away. In fact, he seemed to like it or at least was too tired to care, so the young doctor leaned in closer and snuggled against Sherlock’s chest, seeking warm comfort.

They both fell asleep in that position, wrapped in each other’s arms and taking in the scent that was quickly becoming part of the other unbeknownst to them.

 

 

 

The next morning, John woke up to find Sherlock’s side of the bed cold and empty, the detective nowhere to be seen. The doctor sighed and slowly shook his head a few times before getting out of bed on slightly trembling legs. Only the consulting detective, as he had been informed by Violet earlier that it was Sherlock’s current “profession”, could leave him feeling lonely after such an amazing orgasm.

After a very long and satisfying bath, John emerged from within the confines of Sherlock’s old bedroom wearing a pair of brown trousers and a comfortable plain white shirt that he found in the wardrobe that Violet made sure to provide him with since yesterday.

To his surprise, the impeccable Mycroft Holmes was waiting for him right outside the elegant room, wearing a three piece suit and an honest smile. John knew that such a genuine and sincere expression from the tall Alpha was almost completely foreign to anyone else.

“Mycroft?” John questioned with a furrowed brow and a bewildered smile on his face.

The Alpha smiled even more broadly, showing off a perfect line of white teeth, “John,” he greeted “It is nice to see you again.”

“It’s nice to see you too,” the doctor replied “How long have you been here?”

“A while” was the dry response “I did not have the opportunity to greet you earlier properly since you and my young brother were…rather busy.”

John blushed in embarrassment but smiled again “So, the whole family knows by now, I suppose?”

“I am afraid that yes, we very much do.”

Before John could say something in response, the British government official added “But please, do not feel embarrassed about such matters, we all knew that it was matter of time. You and my brother are, after all, a couple promised to each other since you were children. The bonding was to be expected.”

John furrowed his brows in confusion.

“Well…Sherlock and I did share a heat but we didn’t bond.”

Mycroft arched one thin brow, interest and vague surprise apparent in the gesture “Is that so?”

“Well, yes,” the doctor confirmed “We haven’t seen each other in ages, we are not the same kids we were before and even if we were…you know very well about Sherlock’s reluctance to bond.”

“And what about your reluctance, Dr.Watson?”

John twitched at the sudden question. He looked at Mycroft, trying to figure out his intentions and Mycroft looked back, both staring each other down. Mycroft’s words didn’t sound angry or accusing but they did have an undertone of something similar to a threat hidden somewhere between the lines. For a moment, John had forgotten how Mycroft’s nature had always been the manipulative kind. And it only seemed that time and his current job had heightened that part of his personality.

The young doctor straightened his posture immediately, sensing the unfriendly intentions of the government official. Mycroft wasn’t all that bad, as far as John could recall, at least not when they were younger. The tall Alpha had always been firm and oftentimes cold, but not as heartless as many people thought he was. John Watson was witness of how much the older man could love somebody else.

“Is that a threat, Mycroft?” John inquired.

“Not at all, John,” Mycroft shrugged “It is merely an observation.”

With a last look from John, they both knew that the conversation was over. The Omega sighed again with resignation. “Do you have any idea where your brother could be?”

“He has been summoned to the Yard earlier this morning. Leave it to Sherlock to invent his own job.”

John couldn’t help but chuckle at seeing Mycroft’s expression of deep disgust.

“Yeah, that sounds like him.”

Mycroft smiled at John’s words before he straightened himself a bit “Well, I would recommend you to have some breakfast. Seems that you went to bed quite early yesterday but since you two just shared a heat, I can understand,” the Alpha offered his hand before leaving. “It was a pleasure seeing you again, John.”

John held out his hand to take Mycroft’s with of small smile “It was nice to see you too.”

The blond Omega stood in silence for a moment, watching the tall figure of Mycroft Holmes walk away into a larger hall that led to another wing of the house. John gave the man a last look before he turned and started walking towards the kitchen.

 

 

 

It was around three in the evening when Sherlock finally showed up. John had almost given up on expecting to see any sign of life from him anytime soon. The Alpha came into the room with his usual grace, still wrapped up in his signature black coat and blue scarf. He actually looked rather dashing and John couldn’t stop the blush that colored his cheeks at the sight of the beautiful man. Sherlock sat in one of the extravagant sofas in the spacious living room, quickly took out his phone and started to text in a speed that John thought was impossible to perform.

“Nice day was it?” the Omega asked with a sigh while pretending to be busy reading the newspaper.

Sherlock eyes rose from his mobile for a minute to look at John with surprise.

“Yes,” was the quick reply.

 The detective then turned to look at the doctor with curious confusion “Our experiment seems to have worked, John.”

The doctor raised his eyebrows at the mention of their little arrangement. After Sherlock proposed to him an agreement for both of their sakes, especially Sherlock’s who was so close to losing his rational mind to his most private instincts, they had both agreed to share the bed and have non-penetrative sex every now and then. A small experiment of sorts.

“So, it worked?” John asked “Are you sure?”

Sherlock nodded.

“I am. I tend to be on the edge often and somewhat aggressive, especially with the presence of other Alphas, but today at the Yard I was surrounded by Alphas and their scents. I was surprisingly calm, aware of their presence and horrid scents, but in control”

“So…we are going to be sleeping with each other from now on?” John questioned with a frown, as if the mere mention of the subject had been offensive.

“I don’t see why not. It has clearly worked.”

“Ta, Sherlock. I went from being your broodmare to being your mistress, what a bloody honor,” the sarcastic tone in John’s voice made Sherlock glance up at him with suspicion.

“We don’t want to bond, John, remember?” the Alpha reminded him “But as long as we share the same bed and we carry each other’s scent, which can only be done with constant mating, my parents won’t be pushing us too much for the bond to happen so early. At least it gives us time to think of another way we could deal with this.”

John didn’t want to admit that he hated the way Sherlock talked about their bonding, as if it was the most horrible thing that could ever happen to him, as if he didn’t feel attracted to him at all. The primitive part of him, the Omega part, was disappointed with him, screaming at him to reach for his Alpha and give himself to him, to bare his throat and mewl pathetically at him, begging him to take him and bite him so he could go into heat and bond and breed. John flinched at the feeling, refusing to listen to his desires and forced his body to stay still and in place. The last thing that he wanted to do was humiliate himself by crawling over to his mate.

“So, we are mates now, I suppose” the soldier smiled grimly, tone bitter.

Sherlock grinned in return; seemingly oblivious to John’s dilemma “I think that is what they call it nowadays.”

John snorted.

“People might talk.”

“People do little else,” Sherlock smirked and turned back to his mobile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IM SO SORRY!!!!!!!!! I know I took my (bloody) time with this chapter but since University started the psychology departmeant hasn´t give me break... so, maybe, it will take me longer than usual to get the next chapters done, but I´m not, by any means, interrupting the fic, at least not without an official notice. :)
> 
> Also, cheers to my amazing Beta for her patience and her great corrections for this story :)
> 
> I will explain a little bit more of thsi universe for you, since you can get a little lost, but dont worry, every question will have its answer in time. 
> 
> Just so you know, in this world there are Alphas/Omegas that are more compatible with some other Alphas/Omegas... but they are all capable of breeding all the same. The porcentage of compatibility goes from 20% to 100%, as I said, they can bond and breed no matter what is the porcentage of compatibility between the Alpha and Omega (between an Alpha/Omega and a Beta is always of 30%) but when the Alpha/Omga couple are higly compatible it happens something called "imprinting" (that´s what happen with Sherrinford with John), when the two of them (or just one of them, for that matter) imprint, a conection starts and it´s hard to ignore. Usually it happens to the Alpha, it´s a biological techinique to call an Alpha for breeding an Omega. So, if you are wondering why Sherlock is so upset about Sherrinford imprinting in John is because that means that possibly Sherrinford is more compatible with John that Sherlock with John. It´s matter of Alpha pride. 
> 
> I will explain more of this in next chapters :), for now, a little data:
> 
> Violet Bennett and Sigerson Holmes are 85.3% compatible  
> James Bond and Quinton Holmes (Q) are 90.7% compatible (Although they haven´t show up yet)  
> John Watson and Sherlock Holmes are ? (*wink*)  
> Sherrinford Holmes and John Watson are 95.9% compatible (ouch, Sherlock...)


	5. The Potential Of You & Me

                                                              

John felt that he was walking on a very thin and dangerous line. Ever since Sherlock had promised to him that as long as they kept touching each other and sleeping together every now and then, his potent Alpha scent would linger on the Omega’s skin, staking its claim and alerting all the other predatory Alphas and dull Betas that he was taken; however John still got that uneasy feeling in his gut that was telling him that something seemed odd even when the deal appeared to be perfectly clear and credible.

Honestly, the younger man wasn’t so sure anymore whether it was such a great idea. He constantly found himself looking over his shoulder, scared and nervous, to find a member of the family suspicious about what both, John and Sherlock, were actually up to. It has been two months since they had started their elusive game, sharing a few passionate kisses after the shameful blowjob that he gave to Sherlock in the Alpha’s bedroom. After two days of teasing touches, as if they have never had sex before, they started to take their clothes off all over again, coming back to square one with the blowjobs, hand jobs and a little of fingering here and there.

Don’t get John wrong, he enjoyed the intimate sessions; enjoyed them thoroughly and profoundly. But there was always something missing: a lingering sensation of sorts that only his Omega could dream to even comprehend. It was a missing puzzle piece that he couldn’t seem to piece together and John found it extremely annoying.

For starters, the blond was absolutely terrified about his upcoming heat; he was sure the Holmes family would not allow him to have suppressants, knowing that Sherlock was John’s fiancé and it was the “right” time to finally create the bond. So, by the end of the month, the soldier waited nervously for the burning sensation that came along with a heat; the blurred memories of losing control and the pathetic whimpers and moans that escaped his mouth because of the pain and the need to be touched, claimed and owned in a way that he had never experienced before, all of them were still very present in his mind, haunting his sanity. The Omega wasn’t sure if he could handle the torturous burn once again.

But when John reached the definitive date, his heat never came.

The young doctor awoke in his bed with wide eyes and looked down at his own body – petrified and scared. He glanced up, spotting Sherlock on the other side of the bedroom, staring at him with equally terrified wide eyes. They had been both locked inside the room by Mycroft, whom was making sure that this time the couple would bond, no matter what.

John was surprised to feel nothing out of the ordinary. There was no itchy skin, no burning sensation, no feeling of hollowness in his womb or even wetness between his legs.

The family doctor was at the house within the hour.

After a few checkups and some explanations that only John could completely understand; the family - consisting of Violet, Mycroft and a stoic looking Sherlock -stared at the experienced doctor whom had carefully examined John.

The man then told them that it was a combination of many things although stress was the most likely factor. John had recently returned from the war and it was currently now taking its toll on the soldier’s biology, preventing his heat from arriving as it usually did. The use of illegal suppressants was also part of the issue as the meds didn’t provoke him into going into heat and it dulled his ability of breeding as a normal healthy Omega. It would take a month or so for his system to flush the chemicals out of his body and recovering enough so that he would be able to have a strong heat.

The verdict was that some therapy and a healthy diet for a limited time would repair the damage but if they still wished to force a heat so Sherlock and John could bond immediately it would have to be chemically induced in the same way that it had been done before when John had been brought back to England after he had been exposed in the army.

Violet smiled and as the head of the family, because of her husband’s momentary absence, decided to take the route of a natural regularization of the cycle. John swore that she was an Angel brought down from Heaven whose sole purpose was to aid him.

And that had been the end of the discussion.

But today, _Thursday_ , John reminded himself, had been a particularly trying day so far.

Sherlock, the arrogant piece of shit that he was, left John to wake alone in the cold bedroom, naked and covered in the detective’s dried cum. Last night, the brunette had insisted on coming all over John’s chest, explaining that it was the easiest way that his scent could stay on John’s skin for at least a couple of days. When John had tried to take a hot bath after their most exciting nocturnal activities, Sherlock had stopped him with a deep growl and made him come back.

_“Fifthly bastard,”_ John thought while taking the sheets off of his muscular body.

With the sun being the only welcoming presence, John shoulder started to pain him once again.

Every now and then he found himself whimpering at the sudden pain that attacked him unexpectedly when he reached for a book from a particularly high shelf or whenever he attempted to stretch his arm to tie his shoe laces.

It was a complete nightmare.

In one of the visits from the family doctor, the man had brought with him a medical sling to keep John’s left arm firmly close to the soldier’s chest. It was meant to help him from avoiding opening the still delicate flesh, and that he had been reduced to this, made John grit his teeth in annoyance.

The puffy and ugly pink scar was healing as it should, as the doctor let him know every time he came to take a look at his wound. He was healthy and healing. He should’ve be happy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He wasn’t.

His “mate” started ignoring him again within the first week, running errands with the Yard or minding his own business, business in which John was clearly uninvited. Whenever the Alpha got back to the house - complaining how _he already had a house at London and that he shouldn’t be bothered with staying another minute in his parent’s manor_ – it was only to tease and fuck John and then disappear and go back to his precious 221B Baker Street; as Violet informed John was the address of Sherlock’s flat.

John had never felt more lonely and miserable as he did right now.

He kept himself occupied by reading books in the vast library or taking walks in the impressive gardens. He wasn’t allowed to leave the manor because of his status of a rebel Omega and the only visits he was permitted to have were those from the family doctor and the Omega Services, who were still so furious with him that John was frightened and scared out of his mind that they would actually show up at the door with a punishment on hand.

A slight limp started to form in his walking and it was only becoming more and more pronounced each and every day, making it difficult to walk on the gravel paths of the beautiful gardens. His doctor gave him a metallic cane at John’s insistence, even though the medical man only frowned at the request; his leg wasn’t injured at all, why would he be in need of a cane?

When this little detail was brought to Violet’s attention, a Beta therapist showed up one day in the main living room with a small smile and a notebook beneath her arm.

John felt ill.

He had sessions every Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning at 9 o’clock and John thanked whatever God there was, that once these little sessions started, everyone avoided the room altogether, and even then John was always constantly looking over at the door, expecting to find someone listening in with a bemused look on their faces. He knew that Mycroft always had someone spying on him and he didn’t want to take his chances of giving him the pleasure to actually finding out some of his most intimate secrets.

 The therapist always asked him about his day and was so insistent on talking about his relationship with his Alpha.

_“What Alpha?”_ John always thought with distaste.

The questions always followed within the same lines: How would you define your relationship? How much time do you spend together? What kind of things you liked to do? Do you have regular sex? Does he use condoms? How do you feel when he touches you?

John was at his boiling point and he was ready to explode. It was as if the obnoxious woman was rubbing it in John’s face that Sherlock didn’t actually want him at all. The answers were always very simple: We don’t have a relationship. The only time we spend together is in bed, every three days or so. Sex. Yes. No. Horny.

He could hear Sherlock’s baritone voice at the back of his head, scolding him, telling him to lie so the silly woman would run and inform Violet, Mycroft or Sherlock’s father that Sherlock and John had a perfectly functional and healthy relationship. That would certainly help the detective’s case of delaying the inevitable bonding as much as possible. But John, humiliated and angry by the detective’s indifference, decided to go against the man’s wishes, at least, for once in his life.

And the worse part of all these answers was that John actually enjoyed it. He enjoyed the way that Sherlock’s eyes pierced him, consumed him. As much as he hated to admit it, when the Alpha was with him, he always gave John his complete attention; there was no science, no cases, no murder on the face of the earth that could entice him more that John’s body did when they were in bed, even if that attention was short lived. It made John feel special, wanted and needed. It not only calmed his Omega side but also just made him feel completely normal. It made him think that he wasn’t as lonely as he actually thought, as forgotten as he usually felt…only to be slapped across the face when he woke up every morning to find Sherlock’s spot on the bed cold and empty.

That morning, after a long and hot bath - scrubbing the consulting detective’s scent off of his skin – John felt furious and disappointed; furious at the brilliant man that didn’t seem to realize that John was hurting and disappointed with himself by his stupid and idiotic expectations that he allowed himself to have. John soon realized that he needed a way out of this bloody monotony.

The young soldier had never felt like this before. He had never been so dependent upon another human being. It infuriated him that he had become so needy, spending his days moping after a man that clearly didn’t give a damn about him.

Nightmares started to haunt him in his sleep. Memories of the war, of dead friends and the screams of dying soldiers and every time they came, the Omega woke up gasping for air on a lonely bed in the middle of the night.

He had never felt so helpless in his entire life; not even when he had been but just a child, given away to marry some old Alpha family for broodmare rights. And the worst part was that he _was_ helpless and so lonely; there was no doubt about this.

The blond man dressed himself up in a nice plain white button up shirt and a nice tailored creamy jumper over it, topped off with a pair of beautifully fitted trousers. He gave one look at the sling currently folded on a corner table, and decided with a huff of annoyance that he was skipping that particular piece of fabric; his pride wouldn’t be able to handle it even if his shoulder upset him. Once he felt presentable enough, he grabbed a black comfortable jacket that he had kept from his army days - the only true possession that he was permitted to keep. Before he left the room, he pulled a small crystalline bottle out from within his bedside table; the little object had around seven white pills inside.

_Scent Suppressants._

John hid them inside the pocket of his uniform pants from the army. When he had been  brought back to England, he had managed to keep his uniform and once he had regained consciousness he had held to them as if his life depended on it. He opened the bottle of pills and swallowed one dry before exiting the room.

The young man was trying to sneak through the longs halls of the manor, making sure that no one was looking and knowingly taking the routes that he knew the servants didn’t utilize in the mornings. He quickly crossed the main entrance, carefully making sure to not slam the door behind him on his way out.

He knew it was a long shot, even if the servants didn’t actually catch on to his departure just yet, they probably would be aware in less than an hour or so. However, thanks to his days in the army, John had the habit of rising early and never overslept, although he could if he had really wanted to.

And even if Edward, the gentle butler of the Holmes’ family, didn’t find out for a long while – which was highly improbable - surely Mycroft would. The man was the smartest arsehole that John had ever known, and that was also taking into consideration that John was _engaged to Sherlock bloody Holmes_. However, Mycroft was a brand new different kind of bastard.

The Omega knew that the government official would be following behind, or at least, checking on him most of the time.

_“Of course he bloody was,”_ John thought bitterly.

So, the soldier would, if he manages to play his cards well, only have a few precious hours to enjoy himself in the city that he loves.

London.

Just the thought of it make him wanted to moan in delight. He could taste his freedom – although he was aware that it would be short lived – and he knew that it would be completely worth the while and there was no way that he would allow it to slip out  through his fingers.

He went through the gardens with the grace of a cat, _“Sherlock would be proud,”_ the doctor pondered, almost instantly slapping himself for even thinking about Sherlock at a time like this. “ _At any time, really_ ”.

Once he was out by the high rose bushes, he waited patiently for the guard by the front gate to become distracted by a menial thing, which actually wasn’t a terrible long wait at all; the man was so bored out of his mind that he was falling asleep in his position while standing. Just when the soldier was about to rush out through the entrance and towards his freedom, he spotted the black cameras turning from side to side by the tall front pillars of the black gates and he stopped just in time to be watched. He hid himself with a little rise of panic, and while waiting for another way out of the manor, he spotted a small well hidden entrance in the wall opposite from his, covered by the tall green trees.

_Thank God._

John stealthily walked while looking away from the gates until he reached the other side of the wall and opened the old, small rusty looking door with wary eyes. Once he was out, he ran.

John didn’t count the minutes while he was running, he didn’t even stop for a second, not even when his legs starting to burn, reminding him that he had just gotten back from a war where he had been injured. He didn’t stop, not even when he quickly ran out of breath, finding it near impossible to breathe and not even when his left shoulder decided to remind him that he was pulling it too harshly. He didn’t care though, not until he had finally reached the end of the road that diverged into the main road. And even when he did reach the main road, he was still so confused and desperate for a cab that his legs refused to stop until he could find one.

Just then he realized that it was impossible to find such a thing, “ _The house is outside of London, this is not a main road, John, this is a damn highway,”_ the doctor thought hopelessly. That until a black elegant car stopped right beside him.

John was about to panic, thinking that he had been found and that it hadn’t taken too long for the Holmes’ staff to realise that they were currently missing an Omega, when the window of the car rolled down until it revealed the beautiful form of a young woman.

_Beta,_ the doctor in him notice immediately. The woman had beautiful dark curly hair, as dark as the night itself, and her skin was white, though not entirely pale by all means and John swore that he could spot a splattering of freckles across her cheeks even when she was wearing dark shades. She was smiling cheekily, as if she had just won a bet.

“Well, isn’t this a nice treat?” the young woman voice was cute and girly, but not overly annoying. “What would someone like you be doing, walking here in the middle of the highway?”

John almost raised an eyebrow incredulously. He knew that being an Omega gave him an appeal that almost no one could ignore. He was born to be loved and praised, as there were actual few Omegas in society. He had the ability to breed and that was something that every government in every country wished to posses. But he was wearing his scent suppressants, the girl couldn’t possibly smell the Omega in him, just a dull Beta scent, and even though she was a Beta herself, her olfactory senses shouldn’t be stronger than an Alpha’s; more important than that was the fact that this beautiful woman, who could easily be mistaken for a model or an actress, was way out of his league.

John was snapped out of his thoughts by the woman’s continued silence, awaiting his response. She raised an expectant brow.

“I got lost.”

“On the highway?” she asked.

“It’s a long story, couldn’t find a cab.”

She giggled under her breath and John caught the small glimpse of white teeth. Her smile made her all the more beautiful.

“Yeah, I doubt you ever would, we are in the middle of nowhere, after all,” she chuckled once more before clicking the car door open. “Why don’t I give you a ride?”

John almost took a step back. The woman shouldn’t be so much of a threat; she probably couldn’t tell that he was an Omega and she certainly wasn’t an Alpha, there would be no harm in accepting her offer. And between that and having to go back to the mansion, well, there wasn’t really much of a choice then.

“Sure, thanks.”

John rounded the black car and opened the other door before getting in. It wasn’t until then that he finally realized that he had forgotten his cane.

He wasn’t limping anymore.

John furrowed his brows, confused and slightly elated.

“So…where to?” The young woman inquired.

John took a long breath before answering.

“London.”

She grinned before taking off. John only frowned and looked down to the space between his seat and hers. A brand new model of a blackberry beeped with the red dot shining intermittently, resting suspiciously between their two bodies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It wasn’t until they were entering London that John realized that even if he was free and finally back in the city, he didn’t actually have any idea where he was going to go. The “Squared Mile” wasn’t unknown to him, God knows he wasn’t a tourist, but he wasn’t remotely sure where else to go.

“So, where should I leave you?” she spoke for the first time since she had driven John away.

John thought for a moment until he came up with an answer.

“Westminster. Abbey Road. Almost reaching Garden Road,” John said nervously, hoping that she didn’t notice his brief hesitation.

“Got it.” 

Once again they fell into the previous silence that had accompanied them both throughout the whole ride. The former soldier wanted to start a conversation, he was exceptionally skilled when it came to women, especially if they were beautiful, but he just wasn’t in the mood.

Not since Sherlock had come back into his life that was.

He hated the thought altogether.

The pragmatic silence wasn’t entirely uncomfortable but it was still awkward and the permanent smile on the Beta’s face disconcerted him; it made him uneasily shift in the car seat every now and then.

John took his time in studying the young woman driving the car for a while now that he was able to see her completely. She was wearing a pencil skirt that reached her knees and she was wearing a ruffled buttoned up white blouse; it made her appear both professional and feminine and out of the corner of his eye he spotted a black blazer, resting over the car seat.

This woman was incredibly beautiful and, apparently, possibly had a job that paid really well.

A CEO, maybe?

Right at that moment, he heard a deep voice whispering in his head “ _Not a CEO, John, please, do think.”_

Sherlock’s baritone voice almost made him jump, but he reminded himself to stay quiet and still, ever the obedient soldier. Before he could stop himself he found himself replying back to the voice “ _And why is that, Sherlock?”_

He almost slapped himself right then and there for even doing so. “ _Because she is driving.”_ John frowned at how clearly he could hear the Alpha’s voice almost as if Sherlock was right there with him, right beside him. Before John could ask him again, he heard the Alpha sigh “ _If she was even as remotely important as a CEO, especially one that was paid this well...she would have her own driver.”_

With that final statement, John bristled, suddenly aware that there was a probability that there was something off about this whole situation.

Which there probably was.

For starters he was hearing Sherlock’s voice in his head, which meant that he was definitely going bonkers and lastly, the voice was absolutely right. He hadn’t realized it before but now he was becoming more and more suspicious about the mysterious woman. What were the chances of her finding him in the middle of nowhere? And offering an unknown man, someone that _she_ didn’t even know, a ride?

John did have the tendency of attracting trouble, after all. He was a magnet for disaster.

_“Don’t panic,”_ the voice said. “ _You’re inside a car, there’s nothing you can do. Pretend.”_

John forced himself to remain still, tense as a wire, gripping the edges of his seat, trying to keep himself distracted. His mind raced as he tried thinking of some way out of the situation; he could fight back, he was a soldier, granted, a broken soldier but still a soldier nonetheless. She was no Alpha and he was slightly taller even with the height she gained from her high heels. He was stronger, he was trained, he was a soldier. He had nothing to be afraid of.

Unless she had a gun hidden away somewhere in the car. John´s frenetic eyes wonderer around the expensive looking car, over the black leathers sits, the fine carpeted floor of the vehicle, until he spotted one, it was a handgun, dark like the rest of the car, right beside him, sited peacefully in one of the compartments of his door. The mysterious woman was too concentrated driving, apparently, so he took that moment and quickly reached for the gun pitting in the waist line of his tailored trousers, trying to play it out as him just settling better in his seat. The dark haired beauty only turn and smile at the movement, John responded with a tight nervous smile.

 The soldier noticed that they were already driving through the busy streets of London and his eyes flittered around, consumed by nostalgia as he looked at all the places he used to visit with his friends, roaming around the city as if it belonged to them.

And it had, in a way, then.

The glorious vision of the place he loved dearly thrilled him as it stared back at him. It managed to soothe his overwhelmed mind for a few minutes; there was no need to panic when the great city of London was right there in front of you, it was a huge change, considering that in the last months – years even - the only thing he had been able to see was the sandy desert in Afghanistan and lately, the Holmes’ massive state.

Seeing London was like a breath of fresh air.

“So, Abbey Road?” the woman asked suddenly, still smiling.

John flinched in surprise, having forgotten that he was not alone at the moment.

“Oh,” he exclaimed pathetically “yes.”

“Any particular reason?” she asked again, turning her head towards him.

John didn’t want to answer her honestly – he was deeply suspicious by now - but as Sherlock’s voice had warned him before, there was nothing left to do if you are within the claws of the wolf, so he decided against it and just tried his best to act nonchalant.

“It’s where I used to live before.”

She raised an eyebrow “Before?” she asked curiously.

“Yeah, I’ve being away for a while. Been traveling a bit, I’m afraid,” John said with a bitter smile.

She laughed before adding, “Oh, how mysterious.”

They didn’t exchange more words until they had reached their destination. The strange woman was about to turn around and John stopped her completely, worried about spending another minute in the presence of the beautiful but most likely dangerous woman.

“Here!” he exclaimed loudly, “Here is fine.”

She smiled and stopped. Thankfully there were no cars around and for a moment, John could see himself when he was younger, just a child, roaming the street playfully while his older sister, Harriet, teased him and pulled at his short blond locks of hair, his parents just a few steps behind whispering soft words and laughing at the sight of their two children playing and annoying each other. It was such a normal and unexpected vision from what he was currently living now that he could almost see it as a wistful dream.

“Well,” John started in a slightly shaky voice, “thank you, erm…” just then the Omega realized he didn’t even know her name; he hadn’t even bothered to ask.

“Anthea,” she prompted.

She smiled widely and she looked so radiant that the doctor was momentarily stunned, trying to find his words and trying his best not to babble like an infant. But the woman’s name, as odd as Sherlock’s or Mycroft’s, made him shudder. It was an absolutely ridiculous consideration but what were the chances that this woman with such a peculiar name would be related in any shape or form to the famous Holmes’ brothers?

With John’s luck, the thought didn’t seem all that ridiculous after all.

“Right. Thank you, Anthea,” the soldier said with a shy smile and slammed the car door shut with perhaps too much strength to be appropriate.

John waited until the black car turned around the corner before walking to his real destination; it was only a few blocks ahead but he didn’t want to risk to Anthea knowing where John was actually heading to.

Finally, the blond man found himself in front of familiar dark gates and a beautiful but small front garden that seemed to be overflowing with white roses. It was exactly as he remembered it years ago. With a deep sigh, John opened the gates and walked to the tall white door. He knocked, a nervous smile on his face he stood tall and straight. That was until the door opened and he felt his knees quake at the beautiful sight of his mother.

She looked different. There were wrinkles in the corners of her eyes and her pale skin seemed softer but her figure remained unaffected by age. Lisa Watson has always been a woman of medium height but she was the tallest of her sisters and her slenderness had always been there; she seemed more fragile like this, to John. Her golden hair was always kept short and neat although it seemed shorter than usual now. Her honey colored eyes took him in completely from head to toe, almost as if she couldn’t believe he was there. It made John feel even unsure of himself.

Suddenly, thin arms threw themselves around his neck, embracing him tightly. He could hear her whimper against his ear and then she was sobbing in hitching breaths.

“Oh, mom…” he said with a melancholic smile.

“You’re home!” and even though it had been said in a whisper, it had sounded so loud in the stillness of the moment.

“Yes,” The Omega simply agreed, embracing her in return, “I’m home.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

John had almost forgotten how his house used to look like but everything was still in its rightful place. He was currently seated on one of the couches in the living room. There were fresh flowers on the coffee table and a new rug underneath it. Almost everything in the room had been kept the same exact way that he remembered and the only changes were a few new photographs over the fireplace, new curtains – they had finally replaced the old dreadful ones. John also noticed a brand new television tastefully placed in the corner of the room.

It was nice.

It was home.

“John,” her mother entered the room with the brightest smile the John had ever seen and a young maid that the soldier didn’t recognize followed behind, carrying a small silver tray with two cups of tea. “Where have you been all this time?”

John smiled timidly; the disapproving tone in his mother’s voice was distinctively noticeable. After holding his son tightly as if she never wanted to let go ever again, Lisa Watson had given John the reprimand of a lifetime. He had never seen her so upset. Not even when she had to bail Harry out of jail after a cop had found her completely wasted and giggling like a fool in a random park.

Once his mother had calmed down enough she had rushed her son into the living room for a long and much needed conversation and a cup of tea.

“I was in the army, mother,” John said while twiddling his thumbs. “I became a doctor, well, an army doctor and surgeon. What I always wanted.” The smile on the soldier’s face was shown in an attempt to encourage his mother to share his pride over his achievements.

Lisa smile genuinely.

“I’m sorry that I hid myself away. I’m especially sorry about the way that I left you and dad behind to face the consequences all on your own. That couldn’t have been easy at all.” The young man could only imagine the government inspecting the house for signs of him and questioning his family and friends for hours, trying to find any clue as to his whereabouts.

“Consequences?!” his mother almost screamed, surprising the young doctor “We didn’t give a bloody care for what the government wanted or did, John! We only wanted _you_. We wanted our son safe and sound, right here with _us_ ; we didn’t care for anything more than that.”

The Omega couldn’t hold his mother’s gaze, he was so ashamed. His eyes stayed on the floor, unable to look her in the eye any longer. He had missed his mother, always lovely and open and honest. He had missed her far too much.

“And what has brought you back, then?”

John’s head snapped up.

“They found me. The Holmes. It was my entire fault really, I got shot in Afghanistan. I’m a Captain so I had the chance to be in the middle of the action. It was great, but, well...bullets tend to fly everywhere, one was meant to hit me, I guess,” John explained solemnly, once again looking around the room for something to distract him from his mother’s deep scrutiny, “Sherlock’s brothers work in the government and they found out about me being sent back to England because of my injury. It has been around two months or so since I was brought back. I’m sorry that this is the first time that I’ve been able to visit you.”

Lisa listened patiently to her son’s story, face scrunching up in concern at the tales of war wounds and surely imagining her son’s pain. But then a small surprised frown came across her face at the mention of the Holmes family.

“Two months, John?”

The “really, son?” was implied.

“I’m sorry, mom,” the man quickly tried reassuring her, “but I’m not allowed out of the house until I’m formally bonded and I had to sneak out today just so that I’d be able to see you.”

Lisa eyes widened, “Son... are you…” John frowned, confused as he waited for her response “...Bonded?”

Now was John’s turn to be shocked by his mother’s words. He almost fell back over the sofa at the mere mention of it and suddenly the pain he had recently come to know blossomed in the middle of his chest.

_Bonded to Sherlock._

The whole idea was what his future entailed of, it was what people expected of him and of the tall Alpha but it was the first time that he had heard it worded in such a particular way. His mother thought that he was bonded and it finally made sense to him.

Bonded to Sherlock Holmes.

“No, God, no,” John corrected her so fast that the words practically tripped over themselves, in a hurry to leave his mouth.  

Lisa released the breath she hadn’t realized she had been holding in.

“I mean, not yet,” John continue more calmly, “I haven’t had a heat. I used to take illegal suppressants in the army and it seems that my body needs to flush them out first, but it shouldn’t be too long.”

Lisa smiled sadly, still feeling guilty for giving her son away to breed with an unknown Alpha, although the Alpha in question wasn’t so unknown anymore. Or as unwelcomed as he had been originally.

“It’s okay, mom,” John laughed under his breath, “The Holmes are fine if that is what’s worrying you...tell me about Harry.”

They spent the rest of the morning chattering away about the things that John didn’t know yet due to his absence.

Her sister had found herself a nice Beta woman named Clara. Mom absolutely loved her, apparently. She was nice, shy and loved Harry completely, which was good for the always problematic Alpha.

But as usual things weren’t working as well as they should have been. It the beginning, it was great. Harriet was happy, healthy and she was even enjoying her job; Clara was an angel sent from above whose sole purpose was to make his sister happy. However, they later began to have arguments over the fact that they couldn’t seem to breed. Clara was fine; she was healthy and fertile but it seemed that Harry couldn’t mate with her as she was supposed to.

It wasn’t unexpected for Alphas and Betas to have trouble in that regard. Alphas were more compatible with Omegas; they were perfectly designed puzzle pieces that fit and matched each other so effortlessly that it was impossible to ignore. It was pure biology at its best. It just appeared that Harry and Clara weren’t that compatible at all. They could breed, if both were healthy, but it would be a long and challenging road.

Due to the news, Harry hit the booze again. The booze brought on the fights and even more arguments. Now, Harry and Clara were leading separate lives. Harry wanted a divorce and she wanted to break the bond, something that could easily be done between a mating of an Alpha and a Beta, especially if it was as weak as theirs. But Clara refused, still in love with Harry so much that she was willing to try again.

His father had retired but after finding out about Harry’s debts, he had gone back to work, using his contacts to get a steady job at the bank. It paid better than expected and it seemed to help out Harry as well.

John finally left the house that held his childhood memories with a small smile and a promise to his mother to visit regularly, even when he was in no position to make such promises, though he did expect for the Holmes family to make an exception for John’s family at least.

John walked out through the gate, carefully closing it behind him before turning to find the great tall figure of Sherlock Holmes staring back at him.

 “Sherlock?” John managed to choke out.

The brunette Alpha tilted his head to the side with a curious frown.

“John...” he started, “So you manage to escape my brother,” the tall man said in a bored tone “well, not entirely.”

“What are you doing here?”

“I am here to collect you.” John started to internally panic, “Not on behalf of my family, John. Do not startle yourself; I simply knew you were in town.”

“How...?”

Sherlock smiled smugly, “Mental connection. It is among one of the many benefits of mating constantly, apparently.  It appears that we have developed a mental bond, I can hear your thoughts from time to time, not too much and not often, but I still retain the ability.”

John frowned.

“It’s proving to be quiet useful,” The Alpha continued, ignoring John’s glare, “I believe we had a nice conversation earlier this morning about the dangers of entering the vehicles of strange women.”

John’s eyes widened,” That _was_ you!”

“Of course it was me, John, who else would it be?” Sherlock spoke to him as he was an idiot which was actually a regular occurrence.

“I thought that I was finally losing it.”

“Hardly. I only spoke to assure you that there was no immediate danger and also just correcting a completely mistaken process of assimilation on your part. Anthea, a CEO, please…” Sherlock spat the words out with disgust, as if the mere idea of it was ridiculous.

“Anthea?” John raised an eyebrow, “You know her, then?”

Sherlock frowned down at the young doctor.

“Of course I know her. She is Mycroft’s PA. She practically runs his life for him and together they run the entirety of Britain and occasionally the world on a free lance basis.” Sherlock started to walk and John unconsciously speeded along to follow. “She was ordered to assist you.”

“So, Mycroft found out about my escape that quickly?” John had to admit that it was indeed impressive.

“Clearly. Not difficult to do at all, mind you. It was only a matter of time before you attempted to escape and Mycroft always keeps a close eye on you; it would do you good to remember that next time,” Sherlock warned him, tone unconcerned.

“How does such a beautiful woman end up working for someone like Mycroft, anyway?” John muttered to himself, but Sherlock smirked in amusement, having heard the other man’s muttering.

“Anthea is an Omega, like you,” Sherlock said, tilting his head in John’s direction, “Mycroft protects her and hides her from the Omega system if she works for him. I will admit that is it is also a good system of trust. Anthea promises to be discreet and to not reveal any form of information about the government or Mycroft, or else she finds herself in a dirty cell in an underground Ukrainian ring of Omegas smugglers; or, if Mycroft feels merciful enough, he will just turn her over to the system to be bonded to a random Alpha.”

Suddenly, John felt apprehensive about even sharing the same room with Mycroft Holmes. He made a mental note to stay away from the Alpha in the future.

Before John knew what he was doing, he found himself chasing after Sherlock like a duckling, blushing by just being within the same space as the Alpha, “ _Bloody hormones,”_ the soldier thought with embarrassment.

Suddenly, Sherlock stopped abruptly and the doctor had to backpedal in order to stop himself from running into the strong form of his intended mate. 

“You’re a doctor. In fact, you’re an army doctor,” The tall man said, as if he had just realized.

John felt secretly pleased that for a change; somebody finally acknowledged it.

“Yes.”

“Any good?”

“Very good,” John proudly held his head high.

“Seen a lot of injuries then, violent deaths.”

 “Well. Yes.”

“Bit of trouble too, I bet,” Sherlock added while he readjusted his leather gloves.

“Of course, yes. Enough for a lifetime, far too much.”

They paused to stare into each other’s eyes with determination, an idea forming. Sherlock’s pale eyes seemed to glow with excitement and he couldn’t help but to already feel the adrenaline pumping through his veins. John felt challenged, curious as to what was going through the detective’s head.

Of course, the first to break the silence had to be Sherlock, “Want to see some more?”

John almost whimpered, surprised but absolutely delighted.

_“Oh God yes.”_

 

 

 

 

John wanted to ask where they were heading to but there was a voice inside his head that kept reminding him that perhaps he didn’t really want to know. Sherlock watched him from out of the corner of his eye, sensing the young soldier’s impatience and doubt, and he couldn’t help but to smirk.

“You have questions,” He stated.

John looked around and then replied, “Yeah. Where are we going?”

“Crime scene. Next.”

“Who are you?” Sherlock looked at him as if John had suddenly grown a second head. “I mean…what do you do, exactly?” John corrected himself quickly, curious and surprised; he felt as if this was the very first time in his life that he had met the tall Alpha. And in a way, it was fitting. John didn’t _really_ know Sherlock other than the few things he had been told and what he remembered from his own childhood days.

Sherlock smirked again, relaxing his posture and looking back at John.

“I’m a consulting detective, as my mother and brother may have already mentioned,” he concluded, turning to look out of the car’s window as if the passing shops were more interesting.

John frowned. Yes, both Violet and Mycroft had mentioned what Sherlock’s job was but he had also heard that Sherlock worked at Barts - in the labs to be more specific. After all, Sherlock was a chemist, it made sense. But better than that was that he had thought that he would’ve never had the opportunity to see his future mate working as a “consulting detective” and now he was finally getting the chance to see him in action.

He felt a sudden burst of warmth washing over him at the thought.

“What does that mean?” John asked, a little taken back by the information.

“It means that when the police are out of their depth, which is always, they consult me.”

John scoffed.

“The police don’t consult amateurs.”

Sherlock finally turned his head to focus silently on John. The sight of those gray stormy eyes staring down at him with curiosity and a tiny sparkle of excitement made John wanted to sigh dreamily like a high school girl. It was both enchanting and embarrassing. But Sherlock just gave the blond Omega a withering glare that made John want to crawl into a hole and hide forever.

The rest of the ride was silent and John was too embarrassed and nervous to even attempt to start some kind of conversation with the Alpha seated right beside him. When they arrived at the “crime scene” John realized that they were at Lauriston Gardens, Brixton.

The police was gathered in front of an old abandoned house and people in forensic suits were entering and exiting the building. The Omega limped after Sherlock and when he eventually did get to him the Alpha was already picking a fight with a crooked nosed Beta who was apparently named Anderson.

John didn’t have time to catch onto the conversation when the tall Alpha strode off into the building with a smug smirk and something in the Beta man’s eyes told him that Sherlock had won the argument, as usual.

Once inside, they were met by a tall grey-haired Alpha. After a few seconds, the man finally seemed to notice John’s presence.

“Who is this?” the man asked, nostrils flaring as he sniffed at him.

“He is with me,” Sherlock said.

“Yes, but who is he?”

“I said he is with me,” The Alpha insisted with a growl and flashing eyes. It seemed to be enough for the other Alpha and he quickly dropped the subject and instead he led them on upstairs.

John found it hard to fully understand the next few minutes as they were probably the most ridiculous ones he had ever experienced.

At first, he was in the room, watching Sherlock making deductions about the murdered woman, who lay on the floor in the middle of the dusty room. Sherlock waltzed around the room as if he owned the place, and the words coming out of his mouth were spoken so quickly that the soldier had to make an effort to follow each word. The man was utterly brilliant – there was no doubt about that. Of course John had been aware of this before but it was entirely different seeing it in person. He pointed out things that the police wouldn’t have been able to see even if you locked them in the room for a week; more impressively so was the fact that the Alpha had only needed a few minutes and he was done.

“See, you were right,” Sherlock murmured in a silent whisper. John turned to look at him for a moment before bowing his head, almost in defeat.

“I was right,” the soldier repeated in a dry tone and a brow raised, “right about what?”

Sherlock, who had been heading out of the room – and without even looking back at John - finally answered. “The police don’t consult amateurs.”

And suddenly the crazy Alpha practically flew down the stairs with an expression of excitement and intrigue written plainly across his handsome face, leaving the poor doctor behind, forgotten, as if he truly didn’t matter at all.

Even through all the spontaneous excitement his promised mate was prone to having, John would’ve be lying if he had said that he was not enjoying himself, even if it was only just a bit. Sherlock was probably the most unpredictable man that John had had the pleasure - and sometimes, he even considered it a misfortune – of meeting. The Alpha was vibrant, brilliant and incredibly captivating. The young soldier couldn’t help finding himself drawn to him.

After trying to follow the excited man down the stairs, just to find him already gone, John realized he had been left to his own devices. Unsure of what to do next, he opened his mouth only to close it again, gaping like a fish. The officers all around him didn’t seem to pay any intention to him, and for a moment - just for a small, tiny moment - he wished that he hadn’t taken his suppressants so someone would run to help him.

He knew it was a stupid idea; of course if they _were_ able to catch even just a whiff of his Omega pheromones, they would come running like a bloody horde to assist him, as if he were made out of glass. Both Betas and Alphas would be more than glad to help him out but it was dangerous and it was that that made him shove that idea aside. Doing such a thing was not only risky but most definitely suicidal.

“You’re not his friend. He doesn’t have friends. So who are you? “A strange voice behind him muttered, almost as if in thought.  

John turned around to find himself under the scrutiny of the female police officer that Sherlock talked down to just a few minutes ago. She had dark skin and was honestly quite beautiful with wild curls framing her face. She smelled like an Alpha.

“I’m…” he stopped himself for a second, considering the question once more before answering. “I’m nobody. I´ve only just met him.”

_Half true, half lie._ He knew Sherlock, had known him since they were children. Knew his mannerisms, the way he frowned when he didn´t quite understand something, and the sparkle in his eyes when he came across something that was interesting enough to keep his attention for more than a few minutes. The way he snarled like a small child when things didn’t go his way, or the grin he would flash him when he got what he wanted.

Even knowing all this, Sherlock was still just a _stranger._ Even after all that; he was only a mere stranger to him, unwanted as one, forgotten as one, treated as one.

_He was Sherlock Holmes´s nobody._

 “Okay.” She muttered, almost laughing “bit of advice then: stay away from him.”

She turned to leave but a confused John stopped her right on the spot. “Why?”

She did stop and turn, smile smug and tugging at her lips. “You know why he´s here?” At John´s apparent confusion she continued, “He´s not paid or anything. He likes it. He gets off on it.” The blond almost frowned by the obvious tone of disgust barely hidden beneath the mocking words. “The weirder the crime, the more he gets off. And you know what? One day just showing off won´t be enough. One day we´ll be standing around a body and Sherlock Holmes will be the one who put it there.”

The soldier was suddenly a bit defensive. Donovan, as he remembers Sherlock called her before - snarling her name more likely - was clearly upset with the young detective. John was uncomfortable; he didn’t like this woman, or the way she speaks of Sherlock for that matter though he didn’t trust the man either, if he had to admit. Sherlock was the Alpha who takes him to bed and fucks him once or twice every week, nothing more, nothing less, or that’s what the detective insisted.

He couldn’t trust a man who, however enjoyable and interesting, only saw him as a piece of meat and that only whispered nice and desirable things in his ear when they were in bed.

John stared at the pavement beneath his feet, suddenly apprehensive.

“Why would he do that?” he inquired.

Donovan smiled a little, as if the question had been expected. “Cause he’s a psychopath. Psychopaths get bored.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

After leaving the crime scene, John decided that he didn’t want to go back to his imprisonment at the Holmes Manor just yet, so, in a moment of spontaneous inspiration, he decided to get into a cab and head to the infamous 221B Baker Street instead. He had heard many things about Sherlock’s flat; Mycroft once described it as “ _an atrocious place_ ” in one of his rare snarls, though John was more incline to think that the government official was a bit biased, and Sherlock´s mother, Violet, only gave John a tight smile last time he had asked about it, a couple of seconds of total silence and then only a dry response: _“Baker Street is lovely but I´m afraid that it could be a bit tidier”_.

All in all, John didn’t know what to expect.

The cab stopped in front of the dark door of the detective’s flat. It was next to a cafe and it looked nice from the outside, with what seemed like a white exterior for the first floor and a brick one for the second. Raising an eyebrow, John walked up to the dark wooden door until he stood in front of it. The soldier didn’t know what was waiting behind that door but he did know that it could not be worse than going back to the enormous and lonely manor of the Holmes family.

With a final sigh of resignation, the young doctor knocked the black wood without much conviction and less than a minute later, an elderly woman opened the door; the woman had a quiet and gentle look about her that reminded John of his own mother but before he could even say a word, the woman- the housekeeper? - smiled brightly and started talking.

“Oh my, you must be John!” she said excitedly.

“Oh, mmm…” John tripped over what he had planned to say, caught by surprise, “Yes, I suppose so -”

“I have heard so much about you but I never had the chance to meet you and Sherlock doesn’t really talk much about you to be honest, a shame, mind you…” the words started pouring out of the woman’s mouth freely, John couldn’t help but to feel a slightly uncomfortable and out of place. He didn’t really know who this woman was or how she knew him but she seemed to be really excited about his presence.

“…Oh, but where are my manners?” she laughed softly, “please, do come inside, love, I’ll prepare you something to eat, you must be completely famished.”

John looked around nervously but did step inside the building. He quickly followed the sweet and excited housekeeper up the stairs, to what he guessed was Sherlock’s flat.

“It’s a bit untidy but you must already be so used to Sherlock and his ways, being his fiancé and all…” she muttered with a happy smile playing upon her lips, oblivious to John’s confusion. “This boy, he never tells me his things you see, and every time I asked about you he only mutters some words that I can’t make out and actually _growls_ ,. Every bit the Alpha that one.”

When they finally entered the flat, John couldn’t help but feel slightly overwhelmed by the powerful and strong scent of Alpha – of Sherlock - that assaulted him. It practically slapped him across the face. It smelled delicious, deep and intense, and it being so concentrated, it took no more than a few seconds to invade his lungs, his brain, nearly hypnotizing him in the process. And as strange as it sounded, it also smelled like _home_.

Not the sweet familiar home that he shared with his parents and sister, nor the old small flat he used to live in before he was exposed as an Omega but an unknown, mysterious, warm and brand new home. One that you never knew you had until you finally came upon it.

The room was messy, as the housekeeper and Mrs. Holmes promised beforehand, but it was cozy and oddly charming.

_He loved it_.

“Please do sit down over there sweetie, I´ll make you a cuppa,” the old lady said sweetly while she pointed at the two chairs facing each other by the fireplace. John pursing his lips for a moment before taking the few steps to sit down in one of the chairs, the red one to his left, and for a moment he could almost see Sherlock sitting across from him on the other side, staring directly at him with those eyes that had haunted him for years.

_“I can’t really get him out of my head,”_ the blond doctor thought to himself. The sweet housekeeper came back with a nice warm cup of tea and a couple of biscuits, and strangely the fashion in which the old woman talked about Sherlock made John like her almost instantly. Before they could engage in any sort of conversation the door burst open to let in the tall and thin figure of the dark haired Alpha.

“Oh, John…” said Sherlock with little concern in his grave and deep voice.

The soldier wanted to reply with a sarcastic remark but his mouth closed at the sight of the suitcase that the detective was carrying along with him. It was as pink as the ridiculous coat the dead woman from the crime scene had worn and Sherlock seemed so excited about it that John’s words failed him.

“Is that…?” the Omega started exchanging looks with the Alpha´s face, every now and then glancing down and the pink suitcase.

“The suitcase, yes,” the taller man informed him with disdain.

“The pink lady’s case?”

“Yes. Obviously,” The black haired Alpha said, his eyes glued to the suitcase. “Oh, perhaps I should mention I didn’t kill her.”

The easily detected weariness in his voice as he said that almost made John snort. It was almost as if the detective often found himself in the position of constantly needing to repeat the words.

“I believe you,” the Omega clarified with a small smile tugging at his lips.

Sherlock only gave him a blank stare and a silent tight smile before continuing before returning his gaze back onto the suitcase.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Pink? You got all that because you realized that the case would be pink?”

“Well it had to be pink. Obviously,” Sherlock nearly spat the words as if it was the most obvious bit of information.

John’s expression fell for a couple of seconds. “Well, why didn’t I think of that?”

“Because you’re an idiot.” John raised his head, aiming an offended glare at the Alpha. Before he could actually say anything though, Sherlock quickly added, “No, no, no, don’t be like that. Practically everyone is.”

If that was supposed to reassure him well…it was no surprise that it actually didn’t.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Well?”

“Well what?” John exclaimed, exasperated.

“Well you could just sit there and watch telly.”

Sometimes it amazed John how Sherlock could mumble some seemingly unimportant nonsense along with an easy grin or a sly smirk and was successful in making the soldier almost giggle, amused even when he was supposed to be mad at him.

“What, you want me to come with you?” John asked, pretending to not understand what the detective was hinting at.

“I like company when I go out and I think better when I talk aloud. The skull just attracts attention,” the Alpha explained, accommodating his long dark coat with an admittedly attractive smirk.

There was a small hitch of breath at the sight and John nearly choked on his own spit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Anything you want. Free. For you and your date.”

“I’m not his date.”

The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them and John suddenly blushed, more embarrassed than he had felt in the longest time. A part of him wanted to kick himself in the head for being so utterly ridiculous – saying that in front of his promised mate, what had he even been _thinking_? - but another part of him, one that was mad and hurt and desperate, almost patted himself on the back because at the end of the day it was true, wasn’t it? He wasn’t Sherlock Holmes’s date, he was a simple companion; the tall Alpha had made that very clear several times already.

The soldier finally gained enough courage to look up, locking eyes with the Alpha in front of him, who was staring silently at him. For a moment – a small one, miniscule, really - John could swear that he had seen something in them, a tiny flash of a different emotion that he was sure had never seen before in the detective’s eyes. Suddenly the tall man returned attention gaze back to the window, completely ignoring him.

John felt like throwing up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“That was ridiculous. That was the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever done.”

“You invaded Afghanistan.”

John doubled over, laughing loudly until tears gathered in the corners of his eyes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Seriously. This guy?! A junkie?! Have you met him?”

The gray haired Alpha named Lestrade was smirking. Sherlock certainly wasn’t.

“John,” he warned.

“I’m pretty sure you could search this flat all day and you wouldn’t find anything that you could call recreational,” The doctor’s tone was slightly mocking.

“John you might want to shut up now.”

“Yeah, but come on...” the look on the soldier’s face suddenly fell when he looked into the stormy eyes of his fiancé. “No…”

“What?” The Alpha snapped, glaring at him.

“You?”

“Shut up!”

Sherlock Holmes, the great detective, the man who used to be the annoying boy who John had only wanted to punch in the face, constantly.

He had been a junkie?

John suddenly realized how much he actually not been aware of while he was had been away.

 

 

 

 

 

 

One minute Sherlock was insulting everyone’s intelligence in the room - particularly Anderson’s - and the next, the man, the idiot of a man, had left with a murderous cabbie probably to be killed, somewhere in the middle of the night. John, of course, would follow him to wherever that was.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One shot. And only one man dead and luckily it hadn’t been his fiance. Thank God.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sherlock was being cared for - against his will, if the loud complaining was any indicator – inside of an ambulance. John smiled the minute he had seen him again, after he had had to run and hide from the Alpha himself. He had just saved his life by ending another person’s; it had been pure instinct. The moment he had seen Sherlock on the other side of that window, holding between his fingers the murderous pill that had apparently already killed four people, there had been no time for hesitation.

He had taken out his gun, that one he had stolen of Anthea´s car, dark and unused by the looks of it but thankfully loaded. He had aimed, allowing his experience to shine through for the first time since he had been forcibly brought back.

Now that the young Omega had gotten the actual chance to check that Sherlock was still, in fact, alive and unharmed, John could finally breathe again. He was all right and that was all that mattered.

Or at least that’s what John believed, anyway.

After a moment, the soldier decided that he wanted to go and greet the Alpha after all but before he could actually take another step, a strong hand covered his mouth and nose. Equally strong arms couple grabbed him from behind and kept his own arms held tightly against his back. He wanted to scream Sherlock’s name, the figure of his soon-to-be-mate right in front of him, oblivious to the fact that John was about to be kidnapped but he suddenly felt a pinch in the back of his neck and everything went black.

 

 

 

 

 

 

John woke up in an unfamiliar place. He sat up, noting that he was on a bed, his head throbbing painfully. The doctor held his head in his hands, silently complaining about the aftereffects of the drug that they managed to inject him with.

The room was simple, basic even. John quickly noticed that everything was white and sterile, like a hospital room. White ceiling, white floor and white walls; no windows and only an equally white door. The only difference was a wooden door on his left. There was no other furniture other than the bed he was currently laying on.  

John didn’t have any idea of where he was or who was behind his abduction. Suddenly, John realized that he was no longer wearing his own clothes and that the only thing he had on was a pale blue hospital shirt and scrubs that reminded him of his days as a medical student and as a beta doctor.

Before he could try to piece together what was happening, his left shoulder throbbed and his right hand flew to hold his left arm while John clenched his teeth.

_My shoulder. The bullet hole…_ the Omega thought when the pain became practically became impossible to ignore. Those bastard must have strained his already injured shoulder.

At that moment the white door opened and something was thrown into the room and then the door closed with a loud, resonant bang. When John raised his eyes to see what it was that they had thrown onto the floor, he saw a young man.

The stranger sat on the floor, complaining about the mistreatment and rubbing one of his arms. He wore a white shirt and denim jeans but there were no shoes on his feet. His hair was a dark brown so dark that it almost looked black and it reminded him slightly of Sherlock. The man was breathing irregularly as if he had just run a marathon and was hissing insults under his breath.

“Stupid, stupid…” he said in a quiet voice “I should have known…I’m really going to kill those bastards when I make it back home.”

The Omega was too confused and he was still in agony from the pain in his shoulder, unable to even so much as open his mouth to say anything. The man definitely wasn’t having much of an easy time either and he couldn’t seem to regulate his breathing. He seemed to be sweating and his momentary lack of coordination made it difficult for him to stand.

“What the bloody hell did they give me?” the young black haired man asked himself, twitching in obvious discomfort.

John was about to ask when a powerful, strong scent invaded his senses. Alpha. Potent, nearby; the mesmerizing scent of an Alpha in rut. It was sweet and oh God so attractive that John had to quickly cover his nose with his good arm.

The Alpha suddenly moved, turning his head to finally acknowledge John’s presence. The Omega belatedly realized that the stranger had been too focused on himself to notice him before.

“Omega?” he said, voice so low that it had now become a whisper. “You are an Omega?”

His voice was incredibly soft for an Alpha and the man was oddly short as well, judging by his second gender – he was perhaps as short as John.

Clever, big, brown eyes were staring at him, not with curiosity but with lust. A stormy lust he had only seen once in his life. With Sherlock.

John would be lying if he said that the Alpha in front of him didn’t smell like heaven itself, but the ex-soldier started backing away until he reached the top of the bed, trapped between the now dangerous man going into a powerful rut and the headboard now pressed up uncomfortably against his back.

Crazed eyes were looking, searching.

“Don’t you dare come any closer,” John warned weakly.

_Where the hell was Sherlock when he needed him?_ the doctor thought, now desperate to get out of this situation.

“God, you smell so…” The Alpha inhaled his scent eagerly.

“No! Don’t breathe it in!” the Omega quickly shouted, knowing the result of such an implication, but it was too late - the man had already taken in his scent.

A moment later the man was all over him.

“Well… isn’t this a nice treat?”

John would like it if people would stop saying that for a change.

“Who the hell are you?” John asked, scared but still ready to fight, even with a currently useless arm.

“Me?” the Alpha growled playfully, completely gone in his state, driven by instinct. He then hesitated for a moment before saying, “My name is Richard Brook but I think that from today onwards I am going to be your Alpha.”

John’s eyes widened in terror, slightly trembling.

_Please, God, no._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And guess who is back from the dead? Im sorry taht it took me my sweet long time to update this story. To be honest, I have alot of things to do and I still dont even know how frecuent the updates are going to be but I can say that Im motivated to finish this story by all means necessary. Unfortantly this semester is gonna be even harder for me than the last and that means less time but I feel inspired and I think that I will be updating every now and then, so lets be positive! 
> 
> Anyway, I want to thank my amazing beta, who decide to help me again with the story even after I took way too long time to update this. So cheers for her. 
> 
> Also Important news, there´s a playlist for the fic, just songs that inspire me to write this story and give little hints on whats gonna happen in the future of the fic, so if you want to listen to it. Here it is: http://8tracks.com/lorraineblake/it-takes-2


	6. We Are All in the Gutter...

 

_Please, God, no._

Sherlock opened his eyes at the strong sound of John´s voice inside his head. It was clear and loud, and the clever detective knew it had to come from inside his own brain, the doctor was nowhere to be seen after all. There was a strange pull on his chest, a feeling of uneasiness he couldn’t place, but those were only feelings, it was his own mind.

The soldier had vanished from the crime scene after the shot. Lastrade limited himself to informing the black haired man that John had figured out where Sherlock was, but the Detective Inspector hadn’t seen him after the flat incident.

The young Alpha was currently sitting in the back of one of those expensive posh cars that Mycroft paraded around the city from time to time. It was ridiculous, and he much preferred to move around in a cab, but his meddling older brother, with the infuriating combination of his own mother, ordered him to simply take the ride back to the Holmes Manor.

“Repeat to me again. Why do I need to stay home with the family this weekend?” Sherlock started, his voice heavy with boredom and indignation “I´d rather be in my own flat”

Mycroft only shifted in his seat.

“Oh, I´m terribly sorry” the older Alpha stated, voice thick with sarcasm, “perhaps it has something to do with you almost being killed tonight.”

“For God’s sake!” the detective replied, “I had everything under control!”

Mycroft only gave him a look. “I wouldn’t say that.”

Sherlock only turned to the other side, pretending to find the nocturne view of the streets of London a little more interesting than it actually was.

_“Don’t touch me. Let me go!”_

The alpha winced at the sudden voice. It was definitely John. And it sounded angry, frustrated and for some reason desperate. The awful tugging feeling in his chest reappeared with even more strength than before, and for a moment Sherlock swore he got breathless, the mind connection revolting and creating a sharp pain in his temple.

“Stop the car” the alpha simply ordered.

“What?” the government official asked.

“Stop the bloody car!”

The beta driver looked worried and send a quick look at Mycroft over the rearview, the older alpha only nodded absently, with a deep frown and a tight line on his lips. The black car immediately stopped.

“What on earth are you thinking now?” the older man accused.

“John…”Sherlock snapped “Where is he? What have you done with him?”

Mycroft almost looked baffled. “I have no idea what you are talking about.”

Sherlock growl under his breath and the man in the suit raised his left eyebrow in mild amusement at such feral behavior.

“The only reason I allowed to be taken away like a scolded child is because I assumed that you have already taken John to the estate. Now, I can see that is not the case, so, I won´t repeat myself again. What did you do with John?”

Mycroft sighed with exhaustion, “I don’t have the faintest idea what would you think that I did something to him, but, to clear your mind, brother mine, I didn’t take him anywhere”

Sherlock froze. “What do you mean you didn’t take him?” the detective shouted, “You meddle in everything that has the excuse of being remotely related to me, especially John.”

Mycroft´s face suddenly was a little bit red, embarrassed for some reason, and the alpha suddenly looked away from the younger Holmes, gluing his eyes to the back of the front seat.

“Mycroft…” Sherlock warned with a low, dangerous voice.

“Sherrinford” the bureaucrat muttered almost between teeth. “I was busy dealing with some emergency in the Middle East, and then you got yourself in danger, as always” there was a short pause and a deep breath of air “Sherrinford offered himself to take care of John”

Sherlock stared in silence for a couple of minutes, until another sharp prick of pain went through his head, reminding him that the Omega soldier was in possible danger.

“You let Sherrinford take care of my mate?” the words were spit like a snake spreading its venom. “Mycroft! What the hell were you thinking?!”

“Oh, now he is your mate…”

“That´s not the point at all”

“Sherrinford is completely capable of taking care of a simple surveillance task” Mycroft reassured “May I remind you that he is the head of MI6?”

 “I can hear John inside my head. He is distressed”

Mycroft started to speak all over again when the sound of his blackberry distracted him from the conversation, the British government took the device from his pocket and suddenly his face went pale.

Sherlock quickly tensed, the pain in his head stopped but his concern was very much the same.

“What?!” the detective rushed the other alpha.

“It seems that John was in a bit of a predicament” the alpha announced “and alas our older brother couldn’t get to him on time”

Sherlock face hardened and his eyes shone with fury, but before he could demand more information from his brother or storm out of the car, Mycroft raised a hand while suddenly looking back at the screen of his mobile.

“However, Anthea informs me that Sherrinford has located John.”

Sherlock, who looks like he was about to burst with rage, relaxed just a little but still eyed his brother with anger and searching for more information inside the clear grey eyes.

“She said that our dear doctor appears to be fine, and that Sherrinford is already taking him to the estate” Mycroft finished returning to his usual expression, a calm unreadable face that Sherlock hated so much.

“Take me to him. Now.”

The detective´s voice ordered, still thick with anger and frustration, Mycroft only nodded to the driver and once again the car started to move swiftly into the middle of the night.

 

 

 

 

 

John was seated in front of the fireplace, where he felt warm and safe after a most disturbing series of events. It all happened too fast. One day he was bored out of his mind, locked inside a posh mansion where he felt more useless than he had ever felt in his entire life, and the next he was solving crimes, running through the busy streets of London after a madman, killing a murderer and finally being kidnapped by some strangers in black suits to be dragged in a small unknown room and cornered by a feral Alpha. The soldier couldn´t believe his own bad luck. A faint voice inside his head was telling him that in certain way he had been looking for this. For danger. It was as if his own mind found some certain joy in punishing him for time to time, and John couldn’t shake the feeling that his mind was right.

 

_Please, God, no._

_Everything seemed to slow down for a moment. The Alpha was all over him, pulling at his arms, which were uselessly raised in front of his face and torso in a defensive gesture, trying to keep the man´s mouth and teeth, especially the teeth, far as possible from his neck._

_In some way, John knew the fighting was over the minute the Alpha entered what looked like a powerful rut and caught the smell of Omega on him. The brown haired man was almost as short as the soldier and even thinner than him, but was considerably stronger, after all, no matter your size or weight, once an Alpha went into rut they were fierce, violent and dominant, and John was a broken Omega recently shipped back from Afghanistan, supporting a terrible injury on his left shoulder, an injury that had only started to heal._

_“Are you scared?” the Alpha teased. His voice was soft and almost too high pitched for an Alpha´s but perhaps that was what made him even more terrifying, any other day this young man would have appeared to be harmless, but right that moment he was a predator._

_“Don´t be,” The man continued, “Once I start your heat there will be nothing that you´ll want more than me” he swore, breathing in the sweet compelling smell that John was sure he must be oozing “God, you will be begging for it, like a good little Omega, taking everything I give you, taking it all”._

_The young doctor tried to fight back, he really did. Moving his arms around, striving to at least making it hard for the Alpha to subdue him or hold him down, but mostly, he tried not to breathe. He knew the minute he smelled the delicious overture of the Alpha’s scent he would be gone. The powerful scent the Alpha was giving out was one of the most attractive things he had ever smelled, he only allowed himself to get a little taste, it was just a bit, barely anything, but that little morsel was enough to entice him to get drunk on it. Every time the Omega needed to take a little air, he turned his head away from the Alpha, kept fighting with his hands while he took a deep breath and then turn back to fight a little more again, it was difficult and some moments John almost felt like dying._

_The Alpha reached the hem of John’s jumper, pulling it up, showing more of the doctor´s skin, and apparently loving what he saw. “Chocolate eyes” as John decided to call him, was licking his lips, as if tasting the smell of John in his mouth. His hands, warm and soft, were traveling dangerously up and down John’s chest, caressing the omega’s desert tanned skin. John felt sick._

_This was the reason he had run away in the first place. He hated all the disadvantages that being an Omega gave him, how easy Alphas could pin him down and turn him into a babbling thing that was desperate to be bred. “Why couldn’t he have born a beta?” he thought. A peaceful, normal, casual beta that no one cared about. Someone who would grow up, study hard to get to be in a good university, get married and hopefully have a couple of kids, he never asked to be part of a dying breed or to be a valuable asset for the government and the population._

_With one hard push, John got free of the strong embrace of the skinny Alpha, and pathetically started to crawl away from the soft-voiced man as much as he could, which was not much, his left shoulder quickly remind him that he was in no position to make hard demands of his own body every bit and piece was aching. As he tried to pull away from the bed toward the door, he fell miserably over the white cold floor._

_The Alpha didn’t miss a beat, and as he saw the Omega crawling away from him, weakened by injuries and drugs, he launched himself over the smaller man._

_The soldier´s body slammed down on the floor and he groaned under his breath, feeling the weight of the feral Alpha on his back. With quick strong hands the man turn John around until his back was crushed against the floor, and Chocolate Eyes crawled over him once more, tugging and pulling at his clothes, getting rid of the blue jumper while he was at it._

_“Don´t touch me! Let me go!” John yelled, finally finding his voice, which was raspy and almost too weak to sound angry. But as soon as the words were out of his mouth, he knew he had made a terrible mistake._

_Getting his voice out meant that he needed more air and the moment John permitted his lungs to breathe in, he caught the powerful and enticing scent of Alpha in rut. Everything seemed blurry, the doctor felt his blood started to rush through his veins, he got goose bumps all over his skin, and the delicious taste of Alpha invaded his senses. It isn’t that John hadn’t smelled a powerful Alpha scent before, he still vividly remembered his heat with Sherlock, how good the detective has smelled, how enticing, even hypnotic, it was and how badly he wanted the man all over him, marking him and filling him to the core. But this Alpha smell was different, wasn’t like Sherlock´s, whose smell was a strong combination of cinnamon, coffee and the fresh white and red roses of the Holmes estate garden, this Alpha´s was much more like lavender and dark chocolate. Soon he could no longer help himself._

_His hands uselessly fell_ _to the floor, and his body, once tense and fighting, was now willing and helpless, his eyes half opened, the sight blurry with sudden lust. At the sight of the beautiful dark brown eyes of the Alpha on top of him, John couldn´t help licking his lips, savoring the smell like a child would a sweet._

_He wanted. God, he wanted so badly._

_The moment he raised his arms to reach for his Alpha, for that beautiful smell of his, the silent closed white door suddenly opened with a bang. John didn’t pay attention, not really, he was too busy trying to lick and taste more of his Alpha; that was all that mattered. But before he could even touch him properly, powerful strong arms pulled him away from those brown eyes. The movement was so fast, that it almost felt like he was going to snap his neck._

_John fought, pulling, scratching and squirming, trying to get rid of the trapping hands that were holding him back from his Alpha. Didn´t they realize that this was what he wanted? That his Alpha needed him? The beautiful Alpha of a man was growling now, trying to get to John, who at seeing this, he raised his arms trying to reach him mindlessly but alas, the hands holding him back were stronger._

_Three black suited man came rushing into the room, all of them big enough to be Alphas, they grabbed the feral Alpha’s arms and legs, trying to carry him away from the room, away from John. The young doctor started to realize that his Alpha and his delicious intoxicating smell were fading away from the room and instinctively began to fight the stranger’s hands more forcefully._

_The mysterious hands turned John around to face him, but the first thing that the soldier noticed wasn’t the man´s face, it was the scent. His Omega senses were confused and out of control, his head was spinning, he could barely concentrate on something that wasn’t scents and smells; the fascinating taste of them and how badly he needed them. This smell was just as wonderful and delectable as Chocolate Eyes’ smell, it was like mint and pine, almost as comforting as Christmas, and he couldn’t help himself any longer._

_The minute that the hands, that were attempted to hold the soldier down, separated a little from the Omega´s shoulders and got a little too close to the man´s mouth, John bit._

_Even an Omega was able to have a strong bite, and once an Omega went feral, that bite became considerably stronger than usual, designed to mark, just like an Alpha would in a middle of a rut. The stranger quickly tried to push John away, but the man´s jaw was firmly locked in the flesh and bone of his hand. Curses, growling and even a yelp of pain could´ve been heard coming from the black suited man´s mouth but the young doctor wouldn’t let go._

_That was until John finally opened his eyes, to recognize the man that he had just marked. Feeling weak and exhausted after the whole ordeal, he at last let go of the hand he was sure would be bloody by now. What he saw was not what he expected._

_The man that was staring down at him had deep gray eyes that reminded him of Sherlock. His warm breath was hitting his face, and for a moment, everything slowed down in almost frames._

_Those stormy eyes, and that sweet scent that John found so overly familiar, that reminded him of long summers and mint and pines and even Christmas._

_Suddenly, stepping out of the fog of hormones and pheromones, John recognized the man that he has just ferociously bit, almost to the point of tearing the whole man´s hand. The stranger standing in front of him was Sherrinford Holmes._

 

Sherrinford Holmes was sitting in a comfortable leather chair in front of a nice fire in one of the old study rooms the estate had. It was barely used, so the tall Alpha thought it would be ideal to be alone for a while, of course, such peaceful loneliness could only last for so long.

The oak door that marked the entrance of the room suddenly swung open, Sherrinford didn’t need to turn his head to peak at the intruder, he recognized the scent right away.

“What on earth were you thinking?” a powerful male voice demanded.

“Mycroft…” Sherrinford muttered.

“I agree to give you the thinnest of responsibilities, and you don’t take more than five minutes to blow the whole thing up”

The accused man finally allowed himself to raise his grey eyes from the fire to see his younger brother standing by the door, looking ready to spit fire. It was difficult to upset Mycroft, the man was known as the iceman after all, but Sherrinford always knew how to push all of his buttons.

“John is fine. He’s going to be fine. Barely a scratch on him” the Alpha clarified, waving his brother´s concern away.

Mycroft only grew angrier.

“He shouldn’t have even a single scratch on him in the first place” the man almost growl “I let you do one thing, just this once… I should have known better”

Sherrinford was holding a glass of scotch in his left hand, the amber liquid swinging lightly in the glass “The Omega Services are cleverer than we like to think. By the time my men arrived into the area, John was already missing”

Mycroft took a beat to register the words, as if surprise the government itself was involved without his knowledge. Sherrinford only gave him a complaisant look.

“You may be the British government Mycroft, and I may be M from the mighty MI6, but we are still part of the Holmes family and John is still an Omega. The government is not going to stop to ask our opinion on the matter. The Omega Services does not concern itself with political games or the feelings of those who play them” he continued.

“I am very aware of the limits of my influence, Sherrinford. But next time I let you to do a job, if I ever let you again, please get it done” Mycroft finished, growling beneath his breath before starting to storming out of the silent study.

“He bit me, you know…” the older man mentioned before the ginger could leave.

Mycroft stop immediately, slowly turning to look at his older brother with a frozen expression on his face.

“Excuse me?”

Sherrinford sighed with contempt.

“I said, he bit me. John did”

It took only a couple of seconds before hell broke loose. “Why the bloody hell would you let that happen!?”

Sherrinford only closed his eyes with a pained expression on his face. Slowly the Alpha placed the fine glass of scotch over the night table beside his seat, and rose to his feet to look back at his brother.

“I didn’t plan it. I went to rescue John, he was under the influence of pheromones, I didn’t want anybody else to touch him so I grabbed him myself, I didn’t know John would be so feral, he bit my hand” the man explained, but Mycroft was still fuming.

“How could you be so stupid…?” Mycroft whispered, “Of all people, Sherrinford, it had to be you…”

Sherrinford raised his hand in front of Mycroft´s view, it was bandaged. “The little soldier seems to have quite the bite, for a moment I thought he was going to rip my hand off.”

“He might as well have…” the ginger haired Alpha bickered, Sherrinford almost smiled for the insolence.

“You know Sherlock will though…” Mycroft continued in such a low voice that it was almost a whisper. Sherrinford only looked at him “…rip you apart, I mean”

Sherrinford narrowed his eyes at the mention of their younger brother.

“I was under the impression that our little brother wasn’t really that interested in Dear John here”

Mycroft only snorted “He is an Alpha, Sherrinford” he muttered, as if the sole statement was self-explanatory “I am aware that both of them are sleeping together every now and then; even if it Sherlock didn’t really want to bond with the soldier, he is an Alpha, he will register any approach from other Alphas as dangerous. Basic instinct.”

“That explains why Sherly has been coming around the estate more and more these days. He used to avoid the place like the plague,” Sherrinford pondered while raising a curious eyebrow.

A comfortable silence suddenly fell over them. The peace was interrupted by a tired sigh from Mycroft while the ginger raised his hand to pinch the bridge of his nose, in a clear exasperated gesture.

“How we are going to proceed I have no idea…” the bureaucrat muttered more to himself than for his brother.

Sherrinford smirked. “That´s a first…” Mycroft only raised his eyes to look at him with intrigued suspicion “… you not knowing what to do” the older man explained.

In the family, everybody knew that Mycroft weakness was Sherlock, but the only person that the government official let his guard down with was Sherrinford. The two of them grew so close together that they could read each other perfectly, better than Sherlock ever could.

“One thing is clear” the ginger resumed “in a couple of days you will be entering a rather powerful rut, brother mine, I think it would be prudent for you to leave the estate.”

“Oh, should I, now?”

Mycroft only gave him _the_ look “Sherrinford, don’t play games…”

“I was thinking…” the man started “all this mess would be clear out if our dear younger brother do his duty and bond with John, as quickly as possible…”

The look in the other Alpha´s face seem to indicate that he wasn’t in a playing mood but after an angry glare the Alpha ending up giving in to Sherrinford bemused expression “And…?”

Sherrinford´s grin only stretched further “You´ve said it yourself, Myc. John bit me, my rut will start in two days top, and he will undoubtedly be attracted to me by the pheromones that I will be spreading by then… a little good old fashion jealousy never hurt anybody, I would say”

Mycroft looked pained at the mere idea “Sherrinford, don’t play with fire, not this time, not with this…” he warned tiredly but the Alpha only laughed through his sharp teeth.

“Don’t worry. Everything will go smoothly” he promised before leaving his brother behind; a smirk painted over his face.

 

 

 

John was sitting by the fireplace, very still and wearing an expressionless face by the time the grand wooden double doors opened softly. The soldier turned his head to catch sight of the visitor in the room. When he saw the figure of Sherrinford Holmes he almost whimpered shamelessly, the delicious scent of the Alpha still haunting him, and even worse, the horrible embarrassment he was going through biting the man´s hand was still on his mind.

“Hello, John” the man simply said. He was still wearing the same suit, John noticed, black and neat, even after the struggle in the Omega Services Center.

“Sherrinford…” the Omega wasn’t sure if it was supposed to be a greeting or the start of an apology, but the words died in his throat, too ashamed to even come out.

“Don’t be embarrassed” the man reassured him “I think the faster we get over this the better, don’t you think?”

The doctor didn’t know if the Alpha was mocking him, after what happened between them during John´s first heat and then today at the Center, the Omega didn’t know if he was capable of looking at the tall man the same way. It was hard to even smell his Alpha prime scent all over the room, the doctor found quite difficult to even look at his handsome face.

Sherlock´s brother smirked that Holmes silly smile “John, I just wanted you to know that I understand…” Sherrinford reassured calmly.

“No” John suddenly spat “I mean, I´m sorry… I´m actually very sorry…” the soldier tried to fix quickly, but couldn’t really finish.

“There´s nothing to forgive” the Alpha dismissed with a negative motion of his head “It’s fine. You were being induce by pheromones when I found you, I should have known better than to just burst into the room and pull you away from the Alpha, like I owned the place” he said in a deep, delicious voice that reminded the Omega of Sherrinford´s younger brother, Sherlock. “I’m afraid it’s a family trait” he finished with a smile.

John almost laughed at that. It certainly was.

“Well, I only wanted to address the situation, so it wouldn’t make things even more awkward than I think already are”

John blushed at the thought that Sherrinford knew all this time about how miserably ashamed the doctor felt and how oddly attractive he found the man.

“I think it’s obvious” the man continued, paying no mind to John´s thoughts “how attracted we are to each other, it’s biology really…”

John whimpered in surprise while the tall Alpha only smirked as he sat down on one of the chairs in the room.

“It´s not one sided, John…” he promised, “There is almost a perfect chemistry between you and I, I can assure you that I can feel it just as well”

John wanted to say something, but the words coming from the tall Alpha didn’t quite sink in, it all seemed almost comic.

“Don’t worry…” Sherrinford calmed him while standing up “whatever happens, between you and Sherlock…” the deep voice of the man explained while John almost froze at the mention of the younger Alpha “…or between you and me” he continued with a seductive tone present in his voice that caused the Omega to blushed from head to toe “is going to be your choice” he finished.

John snorted quietly.

“Yeah, like that´s gonna happen…”

Sherrinford raised a brow, intrigued.

“Oh, come on” the doctor complained, “nothing really is my choice, is it? Not since I was declared an Omega.”

Sherrinford smiled passively, the same way that Violet used to do with John. “We are willing to respect your wishes, John”

“Yes, in the type of clothes I wear or the food I eat, maybe, but not in whether I prefer to bond and breed or not, that´s not really up to me” the young soldier had armed himself with some kind of boldness that he didn’t have since Afghanistan.

“It´s up to us either” Sherrinford reminded him “Of course we are the direct benefactors of you bonding and breeding with a member of our family, but it’s the government who decides your use”

The Omega let out a huff of air, feeling heavy and tired, knowing that no matter what he said, at the end, it didn’t really matter, the result was the same. Sherrinford started to walk towards him with a serious face, and John took a couple of steps back, almost knocking himself over with the fireplace, smelling the sweet terse scent of Alpha, so intense and so delicious that it made John´s skin crawl and seemed like an invitation to jump the Alpha´s bones.

“You need not to be afraid,” the man whispered so close to John, that the Omega couldn’t help but turn red.

Sherrinford´s lips were nothing like Sherlock´s. The young detective had plump bow lips that made hypnotized John almost immediately, but Sherrinford´s were thinner and pink, extremely masculine and attractive in their own way. They were barely open but they were calling him, inviting him, and a part of John wanted so badly to punch him in the face, to stop this Alpha from using him like all the others had. But it was inevitable, John was doomed from the moment he bit the man. The soldier was imprinted on this Alpha, the same way that Sherrinford was attracted to him.

Suddenly his lips were mixed with Sherrinford´s. For all their thinness, they were incredibly soft and warm. And damn if Sherrinford Holmes wasn’t a good kisser; he was incredibly experienced, moving them just the right way, leaving John breathless. Even if the Omega stood frozen, with wide eyes open, almost in a terrifying manner, with both of his hands clenched into fists, John was enjoying it. The doctor surprised himself thinking how different the two brothers were, even in something as casual as kissing. While Sherlock was all passion and intensity, Sherrinford was taking his time, exploring the soldier´s mouth, caressing carefully with his tongue. And when Sherlock would had have him already crushed against the wall, with his desperate hands roaming over his body like a hungry beast, Sherrinford barely touch him, with one hand on his shoulder and the other barely holding him on the hip.

Sherrinford was also fascinated by John´s taste. And God he wanted to touch much more. If he could have his way with the doctor, he would have thrown him down on his bed by now, and would be busy getting rid of both of their clothes, Sherlock be damned. The soldier´s body was calling his own, telling him to come and have a taste; it was hard to hold himself back, only kissing John lightly when all he wanted was to rut against him and have him on all fours over a large, comfortable bed.

The Alpha moved his lips over John´s for a while, trying to introduce his tongue inside the warm, wet cavity that was driving him insane. The only thought was of possessing the Omega that was good enough to not only invade his mind and consume him but to make him hard as a rock.

He could have continued his gentle ministrations but a loud yelp behind his back interrupted his train of thought and made both, Sherrinford and John, turn and look at the door.

There, standing, was Sherlock Holmes. The man was frozen on the spot, almost as still as a statue, once unperturbed and now completely in shock: his eyes were wide, and his mouth was trembling slightly, his white pale hands, covered with black leather gloves, suddenly clenched into fists of rage.

John was the first to move. The shorter man pulled away from Sherrinford in a swift move and stepped away from the wall but Sherlock wasn’t paying him any attention.

“What on earth do you think you´re doing?!” Sherlock yelled at his brother with a growling voice.

Sherrinford gave him a crooked smile. And John silently gave a little prayer that the man wouldn’t provoke the angry Alpha any further.

“What you can´t be bothered to do in the first place” he answered.

A powerful growl came from Sherlock´s direction in response as the tall man launched himself at his older brother.

John sighed. Of course he would say that.

 

 

 

 

Sherlock was sitting on John´s bed, head turned to his left, with John´s fingers fixing his broken lip. The detective let out a little huffs of air here and there when the ministrations giving to his face were painful, and John glared at him every single time the Alpha dared to look into his eyes.

The black haired man let out a whimper when John pressed the blood stained piece of cotton over his lower lip.

“Don’t be such a baby” the blonde ordered him with a tight voice.

The brunette seemed ready to bicker but a dark look from the Omega was all it took for the young man to keep quiet.

“And stay put” John continued.

After some minutes of stitching up, John took two steps back to appreciate his work, after a couple of hums of approval he started to pull the sleeves of his shirt down back again. Sherlock raised an eyebrow but sensed that the Omega had finished his labor and limited himself to observing how the young doctor got rid of the gauzes and empty alcohol bottle.

“So this is what you did,” Sherlock muttered pretending not to have any interest in the matter, while John only turned with a confused expression on his face.

“What I did?” John asked while threw the stuff into the dump.

“Back then” Sherlock clarified “When you were an army doctor”

John stared at him for a short while, trying to figure out why the Alpha asked such a question, but after some seconds of silence with the detective staring back at him with honest curiosity, John sighed his answer.

“A little bloodier” the Omega explained “and less broken lips and more bullets to the chest sorts of things.”

Silently, Sherlock reached to touch his now fixed lip tentatively, feeling the slight burning sensation over his skin, and wincing at the pain. John took off his blue cardigan and tossed it over the nearest chair, with a tired gesture on his face.

The young soldier gave Sherlock a quick look from the corner of his eyes, and furrowed his brow at the sight of the detective sitting on the big bed so quietly.

“I´m done” the blonde let the man know.

Sherlock stared at him indifferently “I know” he only muttered.

John’s face filled with confusion.

“So you still here because…?”

Sherlock turned to look at the rug as if suddenly there was something interesting about it.

“Why were you kissing Sherrinford?”

 _Oh, God._ This was the conversation that John was dreading and trying to avoid, he knew it was only matter of time before the detective asked the question but he was hoping that he would deal with this in the morning, clearheaded and well rested. It seemed that he wouldn’t have such pleasure.

“First of all, he was kissing me and second, I could be wrong, but I think that´s none of your business” John said while entering to the closet to take off his pajamas.

“It could be” the detective offered in a deep dangerous voice.

John turn to look at him with a strange gleam in his eyes “It really couldn’t”

Both of them stared defiantly at each other for some moments without saying a word, trying to win some kind of silent war.

“You were in danger tonight” Sherlock announced, it wasn’t a question but more of a statement.

“I was” John confirmed tightly.

“I wasn’t there” the detective whispered to himself, staring at the door absently.

“You weren’t”

Sherlock turn back to see him again with some strange look on his face, some emotion that John hadn’t seen in the Alpha ever.

“I´m sorry…”

John looked at him. “It wasn’t your fault…”

“If I have bonded with you in the first place you wouldn’t have been taken”

“Jesus, give me a break!” the doctor growled under his breath “It´s not your damn job to rescue me” John almost yelled.

“What am I supposed to do, then?” Sherlock questioned him, finally standing from his place on the bed.

“What you always do” John spat with anger.

Sherlock only mocked his expression and threw his hand in the air. “Oh, and what would that be, John? Enlighten me”

John calmed himself down a bit, with a pained expression on his face.

“Whatever you want” the blonde answered with sadness in his voice “You always do whatever you want, Sherlock”

Sherlock´s face paled suddenly and John dashed inside the bathroom and locked the door behind him.

 

 

 

 

It was early in the morning, just a day after the incident that occurred between John and the Omega Services, when Violet Holmes saw the bruised face of her oldest son. Sherrinford’s usually handsome face was black and blue and a little swollen after, what Mycroft referred to as a “pitiful dogfight”. She and the heir of the Holmes name were currently seated facing in each other inside one of the many studies of the manor, her son nervously moving his right leg and staring shyly at her, not knowing what to say, which was good, fear was always a good start.

“So” Violet´s voice resonated in the room “you tell me that Sherlock left those bruises on your face…”

Sherrinford kept quiet, for a moment Violet thought that the pain on his face was making it hard for the Alpha to actually speak but after seeing the way her son tried to not maintain eye contact with her, it was clear that he was mostly afraid to say something stupid.

Violet smiled at the thought.

“Sherrinford…” she said warningly, “I believe I asked you a question”

The young man stiffened in his seat with discomfort before answering.

“Yes” he simply said “Sherlock punched me after I provoked him”

Violet only nodded, thoughtfully. _“So Mycroft was right, after all.”_ She remembered her conversation with her other son right before he left the estate late at night; the woman stood and walked away to the nearest window, pretending to find something more interesting than the actual conversation.

“May I know why he suddenly felt the need to punch you in the face?” She questioned with a raised brow, still not looking at her son.

The young government official let out a soft giggle.

“Because I kissed John” the fear disappeared from Sherrinford´s face, quickly replaced with childish amusement.

Violet blue eyes narrowed with suspicion and she quickly turned to look at Sherrinford with a straight face.

“And why would you do something so amazingly stupid?” the woman´s voice changed from a calm serious voice to a firm disapproving one, but the Alpha merely shrugged his shoulders with a light smirk on his face.

“It just happened” he informed without much interest “We were talking and then suddenly that happened”

“You say it with such regret in your voice. It´s almost touching”

The way Sherrinford laughed at the sarcasm, Violet couldn´t help but see her own husband in their son.

“I don’t. It happened, it was good.”

“He is your brother´s betrothed.”

The Alpha snorted mockingly, finally standing from his seat and walking around the chair to look at his mother with one of his witty looks.

“Mother, please, don´t be so boring” he requested with a little laugh “you sound almost prehistoric.”

“It doesn’t change the fact that you kissed the man that is to marry your younger brother.”

The Alpha crossed his right heel over his left foot with a silly smile on his face.

“But I guess that is expected” the woman continued, staring at the wooden floor “I don’t know how I could have doubted Mycroft in the first place” she huffed a breath of air with resignation.

“Now, mother, you’re just breaking my heart” her oldest son cried in a wounded voice putting a hand over his heart.

Violet gave him with a side eye look.

“Don´t be preposterous.”

The Alpha grinned back again.

“You almost make it sound so bad” the man replied, “You make it sound as If I´m not your favorite one” Sherrinford finished with a little pout.

The older Omega crossed the room, her long skirt brushing the floor and making a soft fabric noise until she found a seat behind the grand elegant desk of the room.

“Don´t be absurd” she warned again “You are not even close to being my favorite”

The grey-eyed man laughed soundly.

“I wouldn´t even dare to imagine such thing” he confirmed, approaching his mother “We all know Sherry is your baby.”

Violet gave him a bitter look.

Before any of them had time to speak again there was a couple of soft knocks at the door, both, Sherrinford and Violet, turned with confusion as the slight figure of Edward, the butler, appeared in the entrance.

“Pardon me, madam, but there´s a guest asking for you.”

Sherrinford furrowed his eyebrows and turn to look at his mother in confusion; Violet ignored him and gave the butler a soft nod.

“Does this guest have a name?” she inquired.

Edward suddenly seemed uncomfortable and bit his lower lip before answering the question.

“I believe he comes on behalf of the Omega Services, madam.”

Sherrinford paled at the mention of them, and Violet stood tiredly; she pulled the dark golden fabric of her dress and fixed the belt that held it together before starting to the door, where Edward had already disappeared. Sherrinford straightened while looking at his mother.

“I will take care of this, Sherrinford, don´t you dare to think of meddling” she commanded as she reached the wooden door, she paused at the entrance, and turned to look at her son with a demanding grimace “Oh, and please do me the favor of leaving the estate before your rut starts, I don´t want any more trouble”

With that the double door fell shut.

 

 

 

The representative of the Omega Services turned out to be an Alpha male if his scent was anything to go by. When Violet entered the salon the man was standing by one of the tall windows with his hands folded behind his back, he was wearing a fitted elegant dark suit and his broad shoulders were almost intimidating.

“So you are…?” Violet started without bothering with frivolous false manners.

The man turned at the sound of her voice. He had short golden brown hair and glasses over his strange, calculating, shark like eyes.

“Oh, Violet Holmes, I assume” the tall man said with a kind voice while he stretched his hand to shake Violet´s.

“Yes” She answered without saying anything more.

“Excuse my manners, I´m Charles Augustus Magnussen, the head of the Omega Services Office,” he said with a fake smile than didn’t reach his eyes.  

Violet almost froze on the spot, she knew the man very well, everyone did.

“Pleasure” The Omega said “And how can I help you?”

Magnussen smiled with slight mockery.

“I think you are already aware of the actions that transpired yesterday,” the Alpha mentioned “with one John Hamish Watson, the Omega that is currently in your possession”

Violet almost cringed at the mention of the word possession but managed to hold a cold expressionless smile to not insult the powerful man standing in front of her.

“Please, do make yourself comfortable” Violet insisted gesturing at the elegant sofas that were placed in the room “the tea will be ready very soon.”

The Alpha gave a smirk before walking over the salon heavily, apparently amused by the change of subject, and analyzing the place carefully with his intelligent cold dead eyes until he decided to sit in one of the chairs close to the windows he was examining earlier.

“You have a nice place” he remarked while Edward entered the salon with a silver tray “I have had heard about the famous Holmes Manor but I never had the pleasure of visiting” he mentioned with a slight smile “It´s nice.”

Edward finished serving the tea and placed biscuits on the coffee table between Magnussen and Violet before nodding and leaving from the room. Violet picked up her cup with elegant parsimony while looking at the man across of her before saying:

“I´m glad you find it attractive, I can only hope it suits your aspirations” she commented while finally drinking a sip of the hot tea.

“This is the old home of the Holmes, if I remember correctly” he said while looking at the front garden from the crystals of the windows. “I was quiet curious what it would look like” he mentioned without much emotion on his voice but with one of his dead smiles over his thin lips “I know your husband. I encountered him a few times before, though I cannot say we are familiar with each other.”

Violet raised her eyebrow. She wasn’t overly surprised by the fact that Magnussen and Siger had met before, both men were extremely powerful in their own way, but the simple fact that being in a room with the man was distasteful, meant she couldn´t imagine sharing an event or even a table with the Alpha.

“He has the most interesting ideas” Magnussen continued with a soft chuckle “He seems quiet the combination of old school with a young mentality ; I came here with the hope of finding him and have a nice chat, but alas, I heard he is out of the country.”

Violet smiled at that.

“Yes” she confirmed “I´m afraid he´s been away for some time now; family business” she clarified lowering the cup on its place “but whatever you came here intending to discuss, you can discuss with me.”

Magnussen assessed her with a glance.

“I´m well aware that you are an Omega of the highest class, Mrs. Bennet” the Alpha started with a playful smile when Violet almost jumped at the mention of her old surname “and that the circumstances of your union with Mr. Holmes were of the most scandalous nature”

Violet paled at the words of the man, but the Alpha continued without worrying of it.

“Oh, I know, everything was very hush hush” he added with a giggled that froze Violet to the bone “but… let´s say I have my ways. For your honor, and I suspect that for the honor of the old and respectable name of the Holmes as well, you and your family made it seem as if the union between your current husband and you was all planned, though, you and I know that all was an accidental bonding. How scandalous.”

Magnussen finally paused to raise his own cup and take a long sip of his tea.

Violet rapidly gained her composure back and said “I don’t know how do you know about that but I must say that hardly matters now.”

The Alpha appeared to be intrigued by the words and at the same time partly amused by them.

“Is that so?”

“It´s been a long time, Mr. Magnussen” she added “I would suggest you to say whatever it is you came here to say and then simply leave” she concluded with a look that clearly suggested he wasn´t welcomed to the estate any longer.

“Very well, then” He agreed with a soft nod of his head “As I said before, you requested John Hamish Watson broodmare rights for one William Sherlock Scott Holmes, your youngest son. The Omega is currently on his middle twenties but there is not bonding certificate or children produce by the union.” He commented with a dry emotionless voice “May I ask why?”

“That is because they haven’t bonded,” she answered with a serious face and a firm cold look to the man.

“Oh, don’t bother” Magnussen waved a hand, dismissing the idea of Violet excuses “We, the Omega Services that is, are well aware of the situation revolving John Watson and your son. The Omega escaped his home the very day of his 18th birthday and even when the Omega task force looked out for him, he simply banished. Very sneaky”

Violent only stared silently at him. Inviting the man to make his point.

“Because of this event we consider that the Holmes family has being neglecting its duties. There are not enough Omegas to cover the decreasing population and we cannot afford the luxury to be wasting them on people who are clearly not interested in the breeding program currently stated for A.O.B. couples by the government” he finished.

“Make your point, Mr. Magnussen”

The Alpha smiled once again “We think is better than you hand over the Omega so we can find another suitable Alpha who will take care of things.”

“Absolutely not”

Magnussen raised his eyebrow in a combination of amusement and false astonishment. But Violet only glared at him as if the man was the devil himself.

“We have a contract” she clarified.

“That you broke”

“We have our own reasons for delaying the union”

“As we have our reasons to think you are not a suitable family to fulfill the expectations that are prewritten in the contract, madam” he countered.

They both stared at each other in a silent battle. Violet was disquieted not only by the man, who was horribly rude, but with the whole perspective of the situation they, as a family, were actually getting into. But Magnussen seemed to be having the time of his life, enjoying every second of making her suffer.

“We have every intention to fulfill those… expectations” Violent spat with venom which caused the man to silently laugh “so there´s nothing to worry about.”

Magnussen meditated on the words a little longer with a slight twitching of his eyes, oscillating between refusing and accepting her words.

“Very well” he finally said “See that you do.” he claimed while rising from his comfortable place “In less than a week’s time there will be a citation sent to you, that will specify the final date that you are allowed to register the bonding between the Omega John Watson and the Alpha Sherlock Holmes, or, if you prefer, any of your Alpha sons, I don’t really care which” he shrugged while grabbing a dark suitcase he had left reclined against his chair “The date will be not after the end of the month, I´m afraid, so make the arrangements necessary.”

Magnussen started to walk to the exit of the salon to the great hall, that lead to the main entrance; Violent, quick on her feet, followed him out, searching for any signs of threat from the man who had inevitably ruined her day. When they reach the door, opened by Edward in a swift movement, the Alpha turned back to Violet to take his leave.

“I´m glad we have come to an agreement, Mrs. Bennet”

“It´s Mrs. Holmes, Mr. Magnussen,” she corrected in a stern voice.

He smiled.

“Oh, yes, about that” he teased while taking something out from his coat “Here it is” he mocked with a singsong tone and handing what appeared to be a photograph to her.

Violet took the picture with a confused face.

“What is this?”

Magnussen chuckled “What Mr.Holmes is busy doing in his… What did you call it? Oh, yes “Family business” trip”

Violet turned the photograph to see her husband, handsome and well dress as ever, in a restaurant with an elegant beautiful woman she recognized as Rebecca Adler, his husband old friend and first love.

The woman raised her head to look at the smug form of Magnussen, while the man only nodded and walked away “Have a nice day, _Mrs.Holmes_ ”.

Suddenly, Violet could feel her legs shake.

 

 

 

John´s day was a boring one; it started the exactly same way that the past days had, but to be fair, probably this kind of calm was the one he needed after the scandal that elapsed yesterday. He was having what appeared to be “molletes” or something like that, it was some kind of Mexican breakfast –a couple of slices of bread with beans and cheese on it- and some orange juice. It was delicious but his fight with Sherlock made the food a little less enjoyable.

Suddenly a shadow fell on the table where he was eating; John raised his eyes to see the tall form of Sherrinford, all dressed for a day in the office, but with a bandage on his left cheek.

“Good Morning,” he welcomed with a slight smile. 

“Morning,” John answered without much affection, and glancing back to his food.

“Mmm, Mexican food” the Alpha muttered walking to sit across the soldier.

John didn’t comment on it, and simply allowed the man to sit without question. Today, John decided to have his breakfast in one of the gardens, in order to avoid the presence of Sherlock for a while, he was in no mood to have any type of discussion about what happened yesterday, but one glance at Sherlock´s brother and he knew that wasn’t going to be the case.

“Those are one of Mycroft favorites” the man promised “but don´t tell him I told you, he will deny the whole thing” Sherrinford remarked with mild amusement “the posh arse will tell you that he only eats gourmet food.”

John dared to glance at him still without uttering a word; the silent rebellion seemed to be amusing to Sherrinford since the man couldn´t help but smile with joy.

“Are you always this quiet?” he inquired “or is it just because of me?”

“Are you always this meddlesome?” John bickered back while taking a bite of one of the breads.

Sherrinford laughed soundly “Only with those I like” he promised “which let me tell you is not an awful lot.”

John hummed in indifferent approval continuing to eat his breakfast without much passion; the sight of Sherrinford´s smirk in front of him unnerved him for some reason. Too similar to Sherlock´s.

“Are you still thinking about the kiss?” he questioned with a soft lifting of his eyebrows.

“Not really” John muttered without looking at him “Are you?”

The bureaucrat laughed with fondness.

“All the time” he exclaimed, catching John´s attention “moreover, I think I dreamed about it last night” the Alpha declared with a toothy smile.

“Don´t be so pretentious” John requested still chewing at his bread.

“Have you seen Sherlock, yet?”

John gave him a murderous look “None of your business”

“Oh, don’t be so bitter. I should be the one who is afraid, another one of these…” he said, pointing his injured face, John almost smile at the memory of Sherlock punching his brother´s face “…and I think that I wouldn’t be able to make it to work for at least a week.”

John couldn´t stop himself and giggled at the thought, Sherrinford smiled full of disbelief and false indignation.

“Don´t you dare to laugh” he ordered with a little laugh “It hurts like a bitch”

“You deserve it.”

“Maybe” the Alpha accepted “with takes me back to why I´m still here…”

John raised an eyebrow.

“My rut will probably start tomorrow…” the brown haired man informed John with a more serious tone “and I need to know if I should stay or leave”

John sat silent for a while, not knowing what the man wanted from him, until it clicked “…and you want me to tell you which option is the best?” the doctor snorted.

“I need you to tell me what you want.”

“What I want hardly matters” John said, more confused than before.

“You´re wrong” Sherrinford corrects with an even sterner face than before “You´re all that matters here. Do you want me to stay or not?”

John was dead silent and even a little stunned; he was not stupid, the Alpha before him was actually asking him if he wanted to share his rut, in which, to be fair, it was John´s fault that such rut was going to happen since he was the one who bit him on the first place. But those stormy eyes so similar and so different from Sherlock´s assessed him in a way that created a muddle inside his gut.

But the minute that John wondered what is wrong with accepting the invitation of the man who, unlike the rest of his family, truly seemed to care about him wanting this or not, the image of Sherlock came rushing into his mind. He was upset with the tall man, vexed with the way he seemed to care only for his own concerns, ignoring how John felt about the situation entirely. Even then, though, he couldn’t help but love the Alpha’s rare amused smile, or the sound of his deep baritone voice rumbling beside his ears.

Sherrinford was handsome as could be, tall with a thin but muscular body and beautiful pale skin that was slightly tainted by the sun, his hair was straight with a slight curl at the ends and a dark shade of brown that wasn’t the silky black of Sherlock but wasn’t the ginger-ish soft brown of Mycroft either. And his eyes. Those piercing grey stormy eyes that he had inherited from his father and shared with Sherlock, even though they weren’t quiet as beautiful as his brother´s, were still dominating and demanding, fitting for a member of the Holmes family. Sherlock, on the other hand, was more than beautiful. He was captivating in every way, even when he could be as obnoxious as a spoiled brat, he could be equally fascinating or more and that enthralled John in a fashion than he hadn’t found not even in his days with the army or at medical school. Sherlock was an icy fire that consumed him more than anything ever had.

John smiled sadly at Sherlock´s brother, now clearing his head and finally understanding the implications of Sherrinford question, which was really a _“Do you want to bond with me?”_ He appreciated the gesture, the way that Sherrinford was giving him a way out from his commitment with his family the only way he could: by giving him a second option. Not a better one, but another one nonetheless. And John appreciated that.

“Thank you” the Omega started with some pity in his voice “but I think is better for you to leave for the weekend.”

Sherrinford huffed a little, seemly the rejection finally hitting home and hurting “all right” he said “If you are sure, though, you can change your mind any time” he smiled mischievously.

“I´ll keep that in mind” the young doctor promised.

“I know we don´t know each other very well” Sherrinford explained while standing from his seat “but I also know that you feel the same attraction that I feel between us.”

John stared in his deep grey eyes for a minute with some level of concern; Sherrinford sent him a soft, sad smile.

“So, I want you to know that you are allowed to change your mind any time” he repeated with a voice with so little hope that John almost felt bad for him, in the end, though, he gave him a warm smile.

“I´ll keep it in mind.” He promised again.

Sherrinford smiled one last time before nodding and starting to walk away from the doctor, the sight of the tall man with the broad shoulders fading away in the distance, taking the chance to having someone else, someone who was not Sherlock Holmes, with him for the rest of his life.

 

 

 

When John got back to his room, Sherlock was there, sitting on the mattress with a curious look at the sight of the doctor. He thought about Sherrinford and the things he said before leaving him in the garden, and how he decided to stay with the Alpha that was already chosen for him. The Alpha who was currently sitting on his bed with a lost look on his face.

“John…” the man started with a shaky voice “…I´m…I just…”

John stared at his grey eyes, deeper than the ones he had stared at just twenty minutes ago, and raised an eyebrow at the words.

Sherlock bit his lower lip with indecision, clinging clumsy with the words that were still unsaid. John could see that some kind of battle was going inside the head of the detective, and just now he realize how nervous the Alpha was about whatever he was trying to say to him.

“…I´m sorry” he said in almost a whisper but he raised his eyes to stare directly to John´s blue eyes. 

John swallowed, still undecided, not knowing how to react. He couldn´t recall a situation when they were children where Sherlock was as fidgety as he was now, playing wirily with his bare hands, as if this apology, completely unexpected and absolutely sincere, was all he could offer to him. It probably it was.

“For what?” the soldier asked, equally nervous.

 “For everything” the young Alpha said, “for being a complete and utter prick” he added.

John could feel himself smile sadly, as if the whole sentence was all he needed to hear for the man, and, taking in account who Sherlock was, it probably meant so much more.

“It´s fine” John forgave with a clear smile. Sherlock´s own lips curled up a bit at the edges with bright eyes than almost looked blue with the devotion in it.

“But… we still not okay” It wasn’t a question. It was a declaration, and John found himself surprised that Sherlock could realize such thing by himself.

“No” John agreed, “We still need to work on that arena” he chuckled “but we are definitely better.”

Sherlock nodded at him with a thoughtful glance, again lost in his own contemplations, but seemed to take John´s words to heart, which was a good change. Suddenly the detective raised his eyes to look back at John´s and with a deep serious voice said:

“About Sherrinford…”

John dismissed the mere mention of Sherlock´s brother with a move of his hands “Forget about it. He kissed me, it happened, it´s done. I don’t intend to let it happen again.”

Sherlock looked at him suspiciously, making John want to roll his eyes in annoyance, but he knew that the Alpha couldn´t help it, it was in his nature to feel jealous of such things.

“All right” Sherlock promised.

“We should concentrate in where we will go from here…” John pointed out.

Sherlock raised his left eyebrow in confusion.

“I mean, how we are going to work this out…” John gestured between Sherlock and himself with a comedic look on his face “my heats, your ruts and your ridiculous family.”

“Not to mention the Omega System,” The detective added with clear disdain.

“Yeah, that too” John agreed.

They both giggled like little kids at primary school, like when they used to in those rare moment when they were younger and Sherlock made funny deductions about the people that used to attend boring family parties in the gardens while they looked out from the windows of the summer residence of the mansion. Those quiet good times when there was no heats and not government to worry about, only being together, John and Sherlock, either enjoying each other company or jumping on each other´s throats.

“John…” Sherlock called him back again, taking John out of his deep thoughts.

“Mmm?” The soldier hummed.

“I´m sorry…”

John clicked his tongue against his teeth soundly, and frowning with confusion “I already told you that is all fine…”

“No” Sherlock insisted, more serious than before “This time, I´m sorry for the life that you will never have, the life that you´ve already lost.”

John stared at him for a long while, not speaking a word but clearly analyzing the words in his head.

“It hardly matters, now” the Omega confessed, without the bitterness that he had about the whole thing before “It´s done, Sherlock. It was good, but I guess that that part of my life is over and that´s fine, at least now I´m starting to feel better about it,” he smiled, honest and open.

Sherlock nodded dryly.

“I was a soldier and a doctor, and I will always be that, even now, but that is not what I want to be anymore.”

“Why do you want to be then?” Sherlock inquired with of concern in his voice.

“Well, not your bloody broodmare, that´s fairly obvious,” the doctor joked.

“What then?” the brunette asked so quickly that the words were nearly nonsensical babbling.

John gave him a soft look, trying to make the Alpha feel better.

“Your friend”

Sherlock relaxed immediately, his shoulders finally going limp with relief. As if John´s answer wasn’t a surprise but more of a gentle thought he had already had in his own mind.

“John” he started “you are my only friend”

Something, somewhere deep inside of John, broke of how sad and how utterly wonderful those words sounded.

“As you are mine”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IM BAAACK!!! :)  
> So, here it is, a new chapter with more development on the Johnlock part. I have to say my thanks to my new temporary beta who is amazing with her corrections, cheers for her, and I wanted to give you all a little present, since you have been patiently waiting for me I wrote an small extra chapter focused in the couple of Sherrinford and John, a friend of mine liked it so much that bullied me into writing one, it would be a separeted chapter and it will not be included in the story but you can search for it in the Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics Tag it will be called "People Change" as I said its not "canon" in the series but its an alternative version of what could have happened in this chapter if John would have picked Sherrinford instead of Sherlock. It should be there in a week or so. 
> 
> I hope you enjoyed the chapter and wait for the next that it shouldnt take me too long to finish. :)

**Author's Note:**

> Well, I hope you like this, it´s my first fic in years, and I can garantee that I will upload a chapter every week but I needed to get this out of my head If you someone wants to help me with a Beta, please feel free, since I don´t have one myself.
> 
> Thank you :)


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